Back in 1974, music critic Jon Landau saw a show at the Harvard Square Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and famously declared: ‘I saw rock and roll’s future and its name is Bruce Springsteen.’

Last night, I also had a glimpse at a musical future. Its name, surprisingly, was ABBA.

The ABBA Voyage show opened earlier this year at a purpose-built concert venue in East London.

The band aren’t actually there, but instead replaced by four avatars – ‘ABBAtars’ – backed up by a live band.

When the tickets originally went on sale, I was sceptical. Why pay money to see a collection of holograms?

But everyone I know who has been all went in with similar scepticism and came out converted. Having been to watch, I now understand why.

Rising up to the stage to the beginning of The Visitors, the four avatars look like ABBA, sound like ABBA, and for all intents and purposes are ABBA before your disbelieving eyes.

Rather than some flickering Princess Leia hologram from Star Wars, the ABBA avatars look properly real. It’s a genuine pinch-me moment.

The Stars Wars reference is a relevant one, because the avatars are the creation of Industrial Light and Magic, ILM, the special effects company that Star Wars director George Lucas set up in 1975.

The four members of ABBA were filmed by 120 motion capture cameras, then painstakingly digitised by a team of 1000 animators, recreating their seventies selves.

Its cinematic magic in the flesh and is both jaw-dropping and spooky at the same time.

At one point I found myself thinking of the sci-fi show Westworld, the android-filled theme park which goes horribly dystopian, and briefly wondered if Bjorn again Benny was going to lay waste to the audience.

Is this the future of music? Take a look at any of our local venues and the demand for tribute acts remains high.

Over the next few months our region plays host to facsimiles of Fleetwood Mac, The Kinks and The Beatles, among many others.

But why pay to see someone doing a wonky impersonation of Elvis, when technology could recreate the 1968 Vegas version, sweaty hip swivels and all?

Right now, I suspect, the money would be prohibitive: the ABBA Voyage show reportedly cost £140 million to put together.

With my back-of-an-envelope maths from the ticket prices, I reckon they’re making around £2 million a week, going into profit sometime next year.

Currently, then, you’d need big pockets to put such a show together, but as technology improves, the costs will come down.

At which point, the future of rock and roll will be Bruce Springsteen all over again, just in ageless avatar form.