A Chess Concert Moment

Graeme Read, writing to ABBAmail, recounted the following:
I had occasion to watch "Chess In Concert" tonight. It's a broadcast of one of the 1984 "showcase" concerts that launched Chess around Europe. I had forgotten about the classic moment during "Endgame" when it's Barbara Dickson's turn to sing and........she's not there! She doesn't come back on stage until the end of the concert, for the encores.

Poor Tommy Körberg looks completely terrified as there's no sound when Babs is supposed to sing until suddenly........ But, up in the darkness, a voice rings out from the backing choir!

Karin Glenmark, realizing that a disaster has happened, launches into Barbara's part without so much as a breath! She literally only missed the first few words. Her performance was amazing. The voice strong and clear - no hesitation or stops and starts. She knew it off by heart. This was her moment, her 15 minutes of fame and, by god, nothing was going to stop her. Opportunity only knocks you off once in a lifetime.

Poor Tommy can't decide whether to be happy that Karin has taken over or lost that Babs hasn't made her cue. He looks around confused and distressed. But then he thinks, "what the !@#$, just go with the flow". And off he goes....superb performance, stunning voice.

After a lot of confusion in the technical area, a spotlight finds Karin at last. And then the camera finds her as well. She's singing her little heart out. Actually she's also "acting" the words as well as singing. The sarcasm, the anger, the spite - they're all there in abundance. After half a minute you forget that Babs was ever meant to be on stage. She has been well and truly upstaged by Miss Karin Glenmark.

At the end of the song, the audience goes ballistic. They realized pretty quickly what a disaster it could have been and how amazing Karin has been to take over. Anders Eljas salutes and bows to Karin, the musicians are saluting her. Even the fat old men (B&B) are overwhelmed. Tommy takes a bow and then realizes no-one could give a damn about him - they are all screaming for Karin. He quickly grabs his water glass and turns around and raises it to her in salute.

They start a rhythmic clap and a polite footstomp. The camera find Karin again - she is clearly embarrassed by all the attention and the never ending ovation. [In the video] the picture fades into the next song and we never find out how long they cheered for Karin.

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