The Vespertine world tour was a tour by the singer Björk that focused on her album Vespertine. She also performed songs from Debut, Post, Homogenic and Selmasongs. She performed 35 shows on this tour and 31 different songs. The tour band consisted of harpist Zeena Parkins, electronic duo Matmos, a Greenlandic choir and a 70-piece orchestra (local to each venue). The tour was released on DVD as Live at Royal Opera House and the concert held at the Orchard Hall in Tokyo, Japan was broadcast on Japanese TV-station WOWOW. A separate release, Vespertine Live, contains a selection of Björk's favourite performances from throughout the Vespertine tour, while a tour documentary, Minuscule, was also released.
In early August 2001, Björk confirmed the first set of dates for the Vespertine world tour which would take place at opera houses, theatres, and small venues, with favourable acoustics for the concerts. She enlisted Matmos, Zeena Parkins, a choir of Inuit girls from Greenland, and conductor Simon Lee; the tour opened at the Grand Rex in Paris on 18 August 2001. While in Paris, she held a press conference to discuss the album but gave no individual interviews saying that: "she'd rather do music than talk about it." While in France she also received the National Order of Merit at the Ministry of National Education in Paris. Another press conference was held in Barcelona on 3 November 2001 while touring in Spain. A 16 December 2001 performance at the Royal Opera House in London was released as the DVD Live at Royal Opera House in 2002. A DVD release featuring a behind-the-scenes look at the tour, titled Minuscule, was released at the end of 2003. Vespertine Live, a live album consisting of songs recorded during the Vespertine world tour, was included in the 2003 box set Live Box; it also includes a live version of "All Is Full of Love", a song from Homogenic.
Opening acts Matmos
Songs performed
Song Album "Frosti" Vespertine "Overture" Selmasongs "All Is Full of Love" Homogenic "Aurora" Vespertine "Undo" Vespertine "Unravel" (Live tour debut) Homogenic "I've Seen It All" (Live tour debut) Selmasongs "An Echo, A Stain" Vespertine "Generous Palmstroke" Vespertine (b-side) "Hidden Place" Vespertine "Cocoon" Vespertine "Unison" Vespertine "Harm of Will" Vespertine "It's Not up to You" Vespertine "Pagan Poetry" Vespertine "Possibly Maybe" Post "Isobel" Post "Hyperballad" Post "Human Behaviour" Debut "Jóga" Homogenic "It's In Our Hands" (Unreleased at the time) Greatest Hits "You've Been Flirting Again" Post "Army of Me" Post "Bachelorette" Homogenic "Play Dead" Debut (b-side) "Venus as a Boy" Debut "The Anchor Song" Debut "Who Is It" (Unreleased at the time) Medúlla "Pagan Poetry" (Music Box) Vespertine (b-side) "Aurora" (Music Box) Vespertine (b-side) "Gotham Lullaby" (Meredith Monk cover) Meredith Monk cover
Tour dates Date City Country Venue Europe18 August 2001ParisFranceLe Grand Rex20 August 200123 August 2001Sainte-Chapelle25 August 200129 August 2001LondonEnglandSt John's, Smith Square North America6 September 2001New York CityUnited StatesRiverside Church Europe11 September 2001StuttgartGermanyLiederhalle Hegel-Saal13 September 2001LausanneSwitzerlandSalle Métropole15 September 200118 September 2001FrankfurtGermanyAlte Oper21 September 2001RoubaixFranceColisée23 September 2001LondonEnglandThe Coliseum26 September 2001BrusselsBelgiumLe Botanique29 September 2001AmsterdamNetherlandsMuziektheater North America4 October 2001New York CityUnited StatesRadio City Music Hall5 October 20018 October 2001TorontoCanadaHummingbird Centre12 October 2001BostonUnited StatesWang Center14 October 2001ChicagoCivic Opera House17 October 2001OaklandParamount Theatre22 October 2001Los AngelesDorothy Chandler Pavilion Europe1 November2001ParisFranceThéâtre des Champs-Élysées4 November 2001BarcelonaSpainLiceu8 November 2001ParmaItalyTeatro Regio10 November 2001RomeTeatro dell'Opera di Roma13 November 2001CologneGermanyCologne Opera15 November 2001BerlinDeutsche Oper18 November 2001LyonFranceAuditorium Maurice-Ravel Asia2 December 2001TokyoJapanHitomi Kinen Kōdō5 December 2001Bunkamura Orchard Hall7 December 2001Tokyo International Forum Europe16 December 2001LondonEnglandRoyal Opera House19 December 2001ReykjavíkIcelandLaugardalshöll21 December 2001Háskólabíó
References