# The Volta tour

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.
The tour band consisted of drummer Chris Corsano, musician Mark Bell, who previously accompanied Björk on the Homogenic tour, pianist Jónas Sen, who played celeste on the tracks "Gratitude" and "Cetacea" on the Drawing Restraint 9 soundtrack (2005), musician Damian Taylor, and a 10 piece female Icelandic brass section called the Wonderbrass. The tour instrumentation included the ReacTable, an electro-acoustic music instrument with a tabletop Tangible User Interface, and the Tenori-on.
The tour generated controversy due to several performances of the third single from Volta, "Declare Independence", during which Björk declared political support for various causes, such as Kosovo declaration of independence, the Faroese independence movement and Tibetan independence movement. This latter endorsement prompted the Chinese Ministry of Culture to announce a ban for all entertainers who have ever attended activities that "threaten national sovereignty".
A number of concerts were recorded and broadcast. Voltaïc, a box set consisting in a live album recorded at the Olympic Studios in London, a concert film including performances from Olympia in Paris and the Langholtskirkja, a remixes compilation and music videos, was released on June 23, 2009.

## Background

After some rumours started circulating during 2006, in January 2007, through Björk's official website, it was announced that a new album, the follow-up to her 2004 record Medúlla was being ultimated. Collaborators on the latest output included Timbaland, with whom Björk had collaborated on three songs, Antony and the Johnsons lead singer Anohni, drummers Chris Corsano and Brian Chippendale, African musicians Toumani Diabaté and Konono N°1, Chinese pipa player Min Xiaofen, Mark Bell, who had collaborated with Björk on Homogenic and played with her during the Homogenic tour and Icelandic poet and long-time collaborator Sjón, who had penned a song for the album. Along with the album, a new tour was confirmed to take place in the following months. On January 22, 2007, the first show was confirmed to take place at Coachella Festival, which she already headlined in 2002. Three days later, Björk's performance at Glastonbury Festival was announced. However, it was specified by Glastonbury chief Michael Eavis that she would not be headlining. Between January and February, performances at Roskilde Festival, Open'er Festival, Paléo Festival, Rock Werchter and Sasquatch! Music Festival were confirmed. The first North American leg was announced on March 19, with shows at Radio City Music Hall, Red Rocks Amphitheatre and Shoreline Amphitheatre.
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. Tour rehearsals began shortly before this performance in Iceland. 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. The tour started on April 9, 2007, with a concert at Laugardalshöll in Reykjavík.
Further dates were announced in the Netherlands, Spain, France, Italy, Ireland and Scotland. 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. 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. It was the first time since 1996 that Björk had played in Oceania. Björk had to cancel an appearance in Sydney due to "swelling of the vocal chords [sic]". Further dates were announced in Japan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Indonesia and United Kingdom. A show in Sheffield was rescheduled due to health issues. Later appearances included shows at Melt! Festival, Festival Sudoeste, Riga, Ola Festival in Spain, Helsinki, Vilnius, Paris, Verona, Rome, Athens 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. Moreover, Björk had to cancel appearances in Helsinki and Sheffield because of problems with her throat and vocal chords. An appearance at Wild in the Country, which was promoted as an exclusive UK festival appearance, was cancelled after Björk had called the event "volatile" and cited problems with staging and lighting. The whole event was cancelled thereafter. 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. 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".

## Controversies

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, Björk suggested that "Maybe a Serb attended my concert [in Tokyo] and called home, and therefore the concert in Novi Sad was cancelled." 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. Björk's management maintained that the cancellation was because of the dedication, 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]". 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. Björk's dedicating of "Declare Independence" to the Faroe Islands caused some minor controversy in the country.
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". Immediately there was an 'uneasy atmosphere' and fans left the venue quickly, and internet forums such as Tianya fielded many negative comments on her statement. China's Ministry of Culture issued a statement denouncing Björk's outburst, and warned that she would be banned from future appearances in China if she repeated such behavior. 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. 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.
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. 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. Björk allegedly tore the photographer's shirt down the back, and in the process she fell to the ground. Neither the photographer nor his employer, The New Zealand Herald, lodged a formal complaint, and Auckland police did not investigate further.

## Broadcasts and recordings

Several performances from the tour were streamed online. Björk's performance at Coachella was streamed on AT&T Webcasts the day of the show. NPR and WNYC offered a webcast of the show at United Palace Theater. The singer's show at Glastonbury Festival was broadcast on BBC Four. A partial footage from Roskilde Festival was broadcast by MTV. Björk and Sigur Rós headlined free concert "Náttúra" was live streamed by Nat Geo Music.
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. 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". When Björk's concert at Olympia in Paris was announced, it was specified that it would be recorded. 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. 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. 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. These copies, which had allegedly been destroyed, were manufactured in Malaysia - and as such contained more tracks than the other released (cut) editions. Voltaïc eventually enjoyed its full official release on 23 June 2009. A preview of the DVD was released on YouTube on June 16, 2009, while footage from "Declare Independence" from Paris and "Sonnets/Unrealities XI" from Reykjavík were premiered by Pitchfork and Rolling Stone, respectively. Voltaïc was screened at fifteen theatres throughout the USA to coincide with the North American release, and throughout July 2009 the concert was also shown twice weekly at the Háskólabíó theatre in Reykjavík. Björk herself was present at the first screening.

## Set list
### 2007

This set list is from the June 22, 2007 concert in Pilton, England. It is not intended to represent all concerts for the year.
* "Earth Intruders"
* "Venus as a Boy"
* "Hunter"
* "Pagan Poetry"
* "All Is Full of Love"
* "Pleasure is All Mine"
* "Hope"
* "Jóga"
* "Army of Me"
* "I Miss You"
* "Innocence"
* "Bachelorette"
* "5 Years"
* "Wanderlust"
* "Hyperballad" (contains elements of "Freak" by LFO)
* "Pluto"

#### Encore

* "Declare Independence"

### 2008

This set list is from the June 25, 2008 concert in Paris, France. It is not intended to represent all concerts for the year.
* "Brennið Þið Vitar" (performed by the Wonderbrass)
* "Earth Intruders"
* "Hunter"
* "Immature"
* "Jóga"
* "I See Who You Are"
* "Pleasure Is All Mine"
* "Pagan Poetry"
* "Vertebræ by Vertebræ"
* "Where Is the Line"
* "Who Is It"
* "Oceania"
* "Desired Constellation"
* "Army of Me"
* "Innocence"
* "Triumph of a Heart"
* "Bachelorette"
* "Vökuró"
* "Wanderlust"
* "Hyperballad" (contains elements of "Freak" by LFO)
* "Pluto"

#### Encore

* "Declare Independence"

### Langholtskirkja showcase

This set list is from the August 26, 2008 concert in Reykjavík, Iceland.
* "Overture" (performed by the Wonderbrass)
* "Pneumonia"
* "The Anchor Song"
* "Cover Me"
* "My Juvenile"
* "Immature"
* "The Dull Flame of Desire"
* "Vökuró"
* "Sonnets/Unrealities XI"
* "Mouth's Cradle"
* "Oceania"
* "Who Is It"

#### Encore

* "It's Oh So Quiet"

### Other songs performed

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.
* "Unravel"
* "Aurora"
* "Unison"
* "It's Not Up To You"
* "Aeroplane"
* "Mother Heroic"
* "Síðasta Ég"
* "Hidden Place"
* "Human Behaviour"
* "Come to Me"
* "Cocoon"
* "Undo"
Appearances
* ↑ performed with Konono Nº1 only during the May 2–5, 2007 shows
* ↑ performed with Toumani Diabaté on select dates
* ↑ performed with Einar Örn on select dates
* ↑ performed with Matmos only during the July 5, 2007 show
* ↑ performed with Min Xiao-Fen on select dates
* ↑ performed with Anohni on select dates

## Tour dates

List of 2007 concerts :
| Date (2007) | City | Country | Venue | Opening act(s) |
| April 1 | Reykjavík | Iceland | Club Nasa | — |
| April 9 | Reykjavík | Iceland | Laugardalshöll | Hot Chip |
| April 27 | Indio | United States | Empire Polo Club | — |
| May 2 | New York City | United States | Radio City Music Hall | Konono Nº1 |
| May 5 | New York City | United States | United Palace Theater | Konono Nº1 |
| May 8 | New York City | United States | Apollo Theater | Spank Rock |
| May 12 | Chicago | United States | Auditorium Theatre | Ghostigital |
| May 15 | Morrison | United States | Red Rocks Amphitheatre | Joanna Newsom |
| May 19 | Mountain View | United States | Shoreline Amphitheatre | Joanna Newsom Ghostigital |
| May 23 | Burnaby | Canada | Deer Lake Park | Ghostigital |
| May 26 | George | United States | The Gorge Amphitheatre | — |
| June 22 | Pilton | England | Worthy Farm | — |
| June 28 | Werchter | Belgium | Werchter Festivalpark | — |
| July 1 | Gdynia | Poland | Gdynia-Babie Doły | — |
| July 5 | Roskilde | Denmark | Festivalpladsen | — |
| July 8 | Amsterdam | Netherlands | Westergasfabriek | — |
| July 13 | Bilbao | Spain | Guggenheim Museum Esplanade | — |
| July 15 | Segovia | Spain | La Granja | — |
| July 18 | Madrid | Spain | Las Ventas | — |
| July 21 | Codroipo | Italy | Villa Manin | Ghostigital |
| July 25 | Nyon | Switzerland | Plaine de l'Asse | — |
| August 21 | Nîmes | France | Arena of Nîmes | M.I.A. |
| August 23 | Nîmes | France | Arena of Nîmes | M.I.A. |
| August 26 | Saint-Cloud | France | Domaine national de Saint-Cloud | — |
| August 31 | Stradbally | Ireland | Stradbally Hall | — |
| September 2 | Inveraray | Scotland | Inveraray Castle | — |
| September 8 | Toronto | Canada | Toronto Islands Park | — |
| September 11 | Detroit | United States | Fox Theatre | M.I.A. |
| September 14 | Austin | United States | Zilker Park | — |
| September 17 | Atlanta | United States | Fox Theatre | Santogold |
| September 21 | Montreal | Canada | Jacques-Cartier Pier | — |
| September 24 | New York City | United States | Madison Square Garden | Klaxons Santogold |
| October 26 | Rio de Janeiro | Brazil | Marina da Glória | — |
| October 28 | São Paulo | Brazil | Arena Skol Anhembi | — |
| October 31 | Curitiba | Brazil | Pedreira Paulo Leminski | — |
| November 4 | Buenos Aires | Argentina | Teatro Gran Rex | — |
| November 7 | Buenos Aires | Argentina | Teatro Gran Rex | — |
| November 10 | Santiago | Chile | Estadio San Carlos de Apoquindo | — |
| November 13 | Lima | Peru | Museo de la Nación | — |
| November 17 | Bogotá | Colombia | Palacio de los Deportes | — |
| December 8 | Guadalajara | Mexico | Huentitán Canyon | — |
| December 12 | Los Angeles | United States | Nokia Theatre | Ratatat |
| December 15 | Paradise | United States | Palms Casino Resort | Ratatat |
List of 2008 concerts :
| Date (2008) | City | Country | Venue | Opening act(s) |
| January 18 | Auckland | New Zealand | Mount Smart Stadium | — |
| January 20 | Gold Coast | Australia | Gold Coast Parklands | — |
| January 23 | Sydney | Australia | Sydney Opera House Forecourt | — |
| January 28 | Melbourne | Australia | Flemington Racecourse | — |
| February 1 | Adelaide | Australia | Adelaide Showground | — |
| February 3 | Perth | Australia | Claremont Showground | — |
| February 12 | Jakarta | Indonesia | Tennis Indoor Senayan | — |
| February 16 | Seoul | South Korea | Olympic Hall | — |
| February 19 | Tokyo | Japan | Nippon Budokan | — |
| February 22 | Tokyo | Japan | Nippon Budokan | — |
| February 25 | Osaka | Japan | Osaka-jō Hall | — |
| February 28 | Hong Kong | Hong Kong | AsiaWorld–Arena | — |
| March 2 | Shanghai | China | Shanghai International Gymnastic Center | — |
| April 11 | Manchester | England | Manchester Carling Apollo | Leila Arab |
| April 14 | London | England | Hammersmith Apollo | Leila Arab |
| April 17 | London | England | Hammersmith Apollo | Leila Arab |
| April 20 | London | England | Hammersmith Apollo | Leila Arab |
| April 22 | Plymouth | England | Plymouth Pavilions | Leila Arab |
| April 25 | Wolverhampton | England | Civic Hall | Leila Arab |
| April 28 | Belfast | Northern Ireland | Waterfront Hall | Leila Arab |
| May 1 | Blackpool | England | Empress Ballroom | Leila Arab |
| June 25 | Paris | France | Olympia | — |
| June 28 | Reykjavík | Iceland | Laugardalur Park | — |
| July 13 | Vilnius | Lithuania | Vingis Park | Jurga Šeduikytė |
| July 16 | Riga | Latvia | Arena Riga | Cosmos |
| July 20 | Gräfenhainichen | Germany | Ferropolis | — |
| July 25 | Rome | Italy | Auditorium Parco della Musica | Ricardo Villalobos |
| July 28 | Verona | Italy | Verona Arena | — |
| July 31 | Athens | Greece | Olympic Sports Hall | — |
| August 3 | Istanbul | Turkey | Turkcell Kuruçeşme Arena | — |
| August 7 | Zambujeira do Mar | Portugal | Herdade da Casa Branca | — |
| August 15 | El Ejido | Spain | Playa de Guardias | — |
| August 26 | Reykjavík | Iceland | Langholtskirkja | — |

### Cancellations and rescheduled shows

| January 25, 2008 | Sydney, Australia | Big Day Out | Cancelled due to "swelling vocal chords." |
| May 4, 2008 | Sheffield, England | Sheffield City Hall | Postponed due to health issues. Rescheduled to July 2, 2008, and ultimately cancelled due to "ongoing throat problems." |
| July 5, 2008 | Hertfordshire, England | Wild in the Country | Cancelled because of problems with the staging, sound and lighting. Björk has called the event "volatile." |
| July 10, 2008 | Helsinki, Finland | Finlandia Puisto | Cancelled due to "medical issues with her voice." |
| July 10-13, 2008 | Novi Sad, Serbia | Exit Festival | Cancelled due to political controversies. |

## Awards and nominations
### Meteor Ireland Music Awards

| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result | Ref. |
| 2008 | Volta Tour live at Electric Picnic | Best International Live Performance | Nominated | |

## Personnel

All credits adapted from Voltaïc.