The Volta tour was the sixth concert tour by Icelandic artist Björk. It supported her sixth studio album, Volta (2007). Preceded by an appearance in a benefit concert in Iceland, the 18-month tour began on April 9, 2007 at the Laugardalshöll in Reykjavík and concluded in the same city with a special acoustic showcase at the Langholtskirkja on August 26, 2008. Overall, 48 songs were performed on the tour, focusing on tracks from Debut (1993) through to Medúlla (2004), which did not receive its own tour. The tour was Björk's first in four years and saw her play countries that she had not played in over ten years. As part of a collaboration with UNICEF, part of the proceeds of the ticket sales was donated to the agency's "Born Free from HIV" campaign.[1]
At the start of the tour, Björk performed three songs at a benefit concert at Club Nasa in Reykjavík on April 1 for Forma, an Icelandic organisation which deals with people who have eating disorders.[12] Tour rehearsals began shortly before this performance in Iceland.[13][14] The tour band consisted of Mark Bell on beats, Chris Corsano on drums, Canadian producer Damian Taylor on electronics, Icelandic-Chinese classical pianist Jónas Sen on keyboards and a 10-piece, all-female brass band from Reykjavík called the Wonderbrass.[15] The tour started on April 9, 2007, with a concert at Laugardalshöll in Reykjavík.[15]
Further dates were announced in the Netherlands, Spain, France, Italy,[16]Ireland[17] and Scotland.[18] The second North American leg, which was announced in July, featured a performance at Madison Square Garden, while the South American dates were confirmed in October.[19][20] It was since 1997 (during the Homogenic tour) that Björk didn't perform in South America. During October, 2007, the first dates for 2008 were confirmed, with Björk playing seven shows in Australia and New Zealand for the Big Day Out and Sydney Festival.[21] It was the first time since 1996 that Björk had played in Oceania.[22] Björk had to cancel an appearance in Sydney due to "swelling of the vocal chords [sic]".[23] Further dates were announced in Japan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Indonesia and United Kingdom.[24] A show in Sheffield was rescheduled due to health issues.[25] Later appearances included shows at Melt! Festival,[26]Festival Sudoeste,[27]Riga, Ola Festival in Spain,[28]Helsinki, Vilnius,[29]Paris, Verona,[30]Rome,[31]Athens[32] and Istanbul. It was rumoured that the singer would perform in Israel for the first time since 1996 (during the Post tour), but no such event happened.[33] Moreover, Björk had to cancel appearances in Helsinki and Sheffield because of problems with her throat and vocal chords.[25][34] An appearance at Wild in the Country, which was promoted as an exclusive UK festival appearance,[35] was cancelled after Björk had called the event "volatile" and cited problems with staging and lighting.[25][36] The whole event was cancelled thereafter.[37] On June 18, 2008, it was announced that Björk and Sigur Rós would join and organise a free concert called "Náttúra" in Reykjavík along with Icelandic author Andri Snær Magnason, to raise awareness about the impact of Aluminium smelting activity on Iceland's landscape.[38][39][40] The last show of the tour was an acoustic showcase that took place at Langholtskirkja in Reykjavík, in which different songs, not usually performed during the tour were performed, alongside new arrangements of old songs, including "It's Oh So Quiet".[41]
Björk has used live performances of "Declare Independence" to declare political support for various causes, often to some controversy. At two concerts in Tokyo, Japan she showed her support for Kosovo's declaration of independence. When her upcoming performance at the 2008 Serbian EXIT Festival was cancelled,[42][43] Björk suggested that "Maybe a Serb attended my concert [in Tokyo] and called home, and therefore the concert in Novi Sad was cancelled."[44][45] The organizer behind the EXIT Festival denied that Björk's cancellation from the festival was because of her song dedication to Kosovo; that it was actually their inability to guarantee the safety of her fans.[46] Björk's management maintained that the cancellation was because of the dedication,[47] claiming that they had received an email from EXIT Festival saying that they would only allow the concert to go ahead if Björk's management "denied that Björk has ever [dedicated the song to Kosovo]".[48] On March 7, 2008 EXIT festival organiser Bojan Boscovic changed his position and told NME that Björk has an "open invitation" to play at the festival.[49] Björk's dedicating of "Declare Independence" to the Faroe Islands caused some minor controversy in the country.[50][51]
At a concert in Shanghai, China on March 2, 2008 Björk shouted "Tibet, Tibet!" three times followed by "Raise your flag!" four times during the finale performance of "Declare Independence".[52] Immediately there was an 'uneasy atmosphere' and fans left the venue quickly,[53] and internet forums such as Tianya fielded many negative comments on her statement.[54]China's Ministry of Culture issued a statement denouncing Björk's outburst,[55] and warned that she would be banned from future appearances in China if she repeated such behavior.[56] In an interview, Björk said that she did not "[plan] a trip to China with the purpose of... propaganda" and that Chinese officials "sensationalized" her performance.[57][58] On July 17, 2008 the Chinese Ministry of Culture announced that artistic groups who "threaten national unity" or "whip up ethnic hatred" among other things during live events would be banned from performing. Fans of Oasis and Bob Dylan, who had previously performed in Tibetan Freedom Concerts, blamed the new regulations for their subsequent denials of permission to perform in Chinese venues.[59]
Many of the live performances from the tour were shot by the audience and uploaded on YouTube, causing Björk to voice her dislike of fans recording video or taking pictures (with flash) at her concerts using their mobile phones ("little cameras"), stating that it affects her ability to perform.[60] On 13 January 2008, Björk attacked a photographer who had photographed her arrival at Auckland International Airport in New Zealand for her scheduled performance at the Big Day Out festival.[61] Björk allegedly tore the photographer's shirt down the back, and in the process she fell to the ground.[62] Neither the photographer nor his employer, The New Zealand Herald, lodged a formal complaint, and Auckland police did not investigate further.[63]
On June 25, 2007, it was announced on pianist Jonas Sen tour blog, that a recording session at Olympic Studios in London took place with the band earlier that day.[69] The recording was officially confirmed by Björk's team three months later, on September 7, 2007. It was stated that the recording was intended for a "live session album".[70][71] When Björk's concert at Olympia in Paris was announced, it was specified that it would be recorded.[72][73] The acoustic showcase at Langholtskirkja in Reykjavík was also filmed. On January 31, 2009, it was announced that a box set called Voltaïc, which would contain the London live session and both the Paris and Reykjavik shows, along with music videos and remixes, was to be released during the year.[74] The collection, originally bound to a March, 2008, release, saw many delays due to a manufacturing error which led to 20,000 copies of the box-set having to be destroyed, and with a remanufacture necessary, Björk decided to make changes to the track listing resulting in four songs being cut from the live DVD.[75] Towards the end of April 2009 Universal Europe accidentally shipped their Deluxe Edition copies of Voltaïc early. A statement released by One Little Indian confirmed that the projected release date was meant to be June 2009 as they wanted all three versions of Voltaïc to be available upon official release. However, UK-based music retailer CD Wow was found to be for a brief period selling un-cut copies of the box set, before its official release.[76] These copies, which had allegedly been destroyed, were manufactured in Malaysia - and as such contained more tracks than the other released (cut) editions.[77]Voltaïc eventually enjoyed its full official release on 23 June 2009.[78] A preview of the DVD was released on YouTube on June 16, 2009,[79] while footage from "Declare Independence" from Paris and "Sonnets/Unrealities XI" from Reykjavík were premiered by Pitchfork and Rolling Stone, respectively.[80][81]Voltaïc was screened at fifteen theatres throughout the USA to coincide with the North American release,[82] and throughout July 2009 the concert was also shown twice weekly at the Háskólabíó theatre in Reykjavík.[83] Björk herself was present at the first screening.[84]
Set list
2007
This set list is from the June 22, 2007 concert in Pilton, England.[85] It is not intended to represent all concerts for the year.
Björk rehearsed 48 songs from her discography for the tour and changed set list order for every show. These songs are not included in the set lists reported above.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
