Candlelight: Queen vs. ABBA Tribute

Candlelight: Queen vs. ABBA Tribute at Unity Temple on the Plaza

Two catalogs, one night, and a string quartet that proves electric riffs and disco harmonies sound even better by candlelight. Fountain City Quartet brings Candlelight: Queen vs. ABBA to Unity Temple's Sanctuary for about sixty minutes of instrumental melody by candlelight, with familiar pop and rock songs taking on a new shape without vocals.

ABBA's advertised selections include Dancing Queen, SOS, Money Money Money and Voulez-Vous: bright pop melodies with plenty for the quartet to play with. Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, I Want to Break Free, Killer Queen and Don't Stop Me Now bring a theatrical rock contrast. Waterloo, Super Trouper, Mamma Mia, Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!, We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions add more familiar turns to the program, letting you hear how strings give two very different catalogs a shared instrumental language.

A candlelit room changes the listening experience. Candlelight frames the music while the quartet's bows bring a different texture to harmonies you may have hummed for years. Four musicians translate rock bravado and pop shimmer into an instrumental sound with a personality of its own.

This isn't nostalgia dressed up as novelty. It's recognition meeting surprise, the pleasure of hearing familiar joy through unfamiliar hands. Hear Queen and ABBA through a candlelit string quartet—get tickets for the tribute at Unity Temple's Sanctuary.