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.