Someone told me that pianist and conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy once had a nightmare in which he had to play Rachmaninoff’s third piano concerto in public on a vertical keyboard.
Such anxiety dreams are common, I have had several of them. Usually I dream that I’m about to give a concert, but I have no idea what I’m supposed to play, or that I haven’t started practising it yet.
Our first concert in New York last night, in Radio City Music Hall, was almost such a nightmare. The second song on the track list, Venus As a Boy, was accompanied by only me on the harpsichord, and on the day of the concert we had never rehearsed it. Björk likes to perform one introverted song in each concert, and Venus As a Boy in the present version is very different from the one on the Debut album. It is a recitativo-like duet between the voice and the harpsichord, a kind of dialogue. And we just hadn’t had the time to go through it! Our first rehearsal was only thirty minutes before walking on stage! Fortunately it went very well.
In fact, we had practically no rehearsal for the rest of the songs on the list that day, as it took far longer than expected to set all the gear up on stage.
And yet I think the concert was quite good. We had some spectacular guests, Anthony, Konono no. 1 and Min Xiao-Fen on the pipa, a Chinese lute. They were all brilliant.
Some guy jumped on stage in one of the songs and started dancing. The guards took him away in seconds. It was kind of funny.
We had our first public performance of Where Is the Line last night. It is one of the most difficult songs and it will get better as we go along. Of all the Björk videos I have seen, Where Is the Line, which is based on one of the Venice Biennial videos (2005) of Gabríela Friðriksdóttir (who happens to be a close friend of mine) is my favorite. It really captures the atmosphere in the song. And in the version we did last night, with a pipe organ instead of a choir, the madness got even worse!
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May 3rd, 2007 at 9:57 pm
I was there yesterday, the concert was PERFECT. Loved how you guys switched up the setlist from what it has been so far at the previous shows.
And “Where is the Line?” was a big “HOLY SMOKES!!!” moment that night. It’s frighteningly operatic with Mark Bell’s crazy beats, the brass girls forceful horns and your outstandingly appropriate organ playing! Works perfectly for this song and “Pleasure is All Mine”, I think.
Also I recall your own contribution to Gabriela’s 2005 work. You did the piano arrangement, no? Out of the four musical pieces written for that installation I admit I like your’s the best, even over Björk’s own contribution.
Keep on truckin!
May 4th, 2007 at 12:06 am
Well you know, although Venus as a Boy and Where is the Line may have been difficult for you, it was a real surprise to hear them both, and made the show even more awesome! When ‘WITL’ was about to play it got really quiet and I thought she was going to sing an acapella song from Medulla, then all this noise came out of no where! It’s my favorite song on Medulla so it really was a treat to hear the craziness of it live, almost like in the 2003 tour.
And Jónas, you added a real fresh, crisp neat sound to all the songs, new and old. The guy jumping on the stage was funny, but I don’t think Björk saw that and I am very glad because I’m afraid if she saw him she might have ran off the stage and not come back. I’m really glad everyone kept their cool doing Joga and did not let him disrupt the show. The beats to ‘Innocence’ are out of this world, I think it might be my favorite from Volta as of yet. Björk was beautiful as always, and I loved the Icelandic Brass girls, the laser lights going wild and everything really! What a lovely show and I had a perfect view of everyone the whole time.
Thank you for such a good nite, and I know for you guys it will only get better!
Jessica
May 4th, 2007 at 12:34 am
Oh my, that guy jumping on the stage must have been scary.
Otherwise, I am happy that all went well. Wow, Antony, Konono no 1 and Min Xiao Fen were there? I wonder if there is any chance of them being around for the European tour… It would be grand.
Much love.
May 4th, 2007 at 2:58 am
WONDERFUL SHOW! Brillance, color, and life! Thank you so very much for that. Bjork is excellent at mixing people and cultures together in beautiful harmony. Clearly you and the other artists sculpted that harmony to so very much enrich my dreary day-to-day life. I have this wonderful natural high I just haven’t come down from.
I was standing in directly behind guy jumping on stage (on your side). I was counting the seconds before the thumping that was coming, and sure enough it was. It was fun to watch for few seconds, but really not so because he went behind her and she didn’t seem to see him come across. I got nervous. But then THUMP, and I felt better.
May 4th, 2007 at 4:26 am
I was there, too!!!
It was so breathtaking, Jónas. Is always good to be surprised, and this concert was full of surprises.
Thank yo very very very much. And i hope you noticed how we screamed louder when Björk mentioned your name
We love you!!!
May 4th, 2007 at 10:28 am
i hope that you are having fun & learning new things here in nyc!
we will see you tomorrow night @ United Palace…& i’m so excited!
May 4th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
see you in a few hours at the united palace
hoping unravel and pagan poetry will be in the set list 
love love love and sending lots of positive energy for tonights show yay!
May 4th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
Sounds (and reads from the comments) that it was a great concert, congrats. Went to see Joanna Newsom here in Lisbon, 2 nights ago, awesome show as well. Now for the year to be complete, how about a visit?
May 4th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
oops..i mean tomorrow night haha
May 4th, 2007 at 11:05 pm
Wow! That’s amazing that you went on stage with almost zero rehersal! I was at the show… was my 1st Bjork perfomance and I was mesmorized to say the least. Thank you.
I wrote a blog about it too, if you’d like to check it out:
http://web.mac.com/susiefloros/iWeb/susiefloros/Blog/E4CB1D6C-6ACC-46C2-BF99-FFB8A443D82A.html
Good luck with the rest of your shows in NY! Hopefully no more last minute surprises!
See you in Red Rocks soon! I cannot wait! It is an amazing amphitheater and I have a feeling you will love playing there beneath the stars.. Hyperballad might need to be echoed off the landscape!
May 5th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
I have heard you will be in South America… Where will you be?
Thanks…
May 6th, 2007 at 2:27 am
Hi Jónas,
This is a bit off-topic, but I am listening to the United Palace webstream, and some 4umers and I are wondering what that amazing background music is (played before and after Bjork went on). The first sounded like Asian rock, and the post-show music sounded almost like klezmer music. Do you know what music that is?
Thank you very much, and fantastic show!
- nondescription
May 6th, 2007 at 4:56 am
i was the bloke who got on stage and danced.
May 6th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
United Palace was HEAP BIG MAGICK; neccessary voodoo!!!!
i’m eager to hear how ti was for you!!!
we made our own flags to wave during DECLARE INDEPENDENCE & it was one of the most powerful moments in life!
i’m starting my illustration of the evening now; i’ll let you kno when its posted!
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
…& konono 1 are a total groove!!!!!
May 6th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
Hey Jónas. I was so surprised to read that you hadn’t much practiced Venus As A Boy … it was the highlight of my night, for sure (which is saying a bit… I was on a high the whole time). I was so glad it was just you and Björk (it’s so different that way), it gave me chills all over. It seemed like you knew it really well, or at least inhabited the space of the song very deeply; and didn’t she just sound amazing? And the introvert song at United Palace was such a great way to open the show.
Thanks!
May 6th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
Hey! There weren’t two stage dancers Kino! It wasn’t you who left bruised and cold, slammed on the street and then slamming on the door to get back in! I acted on a silly impulse and wouldn’t do it again. I felt bad that I intruded on the performers’ space. I was just so excited when I actually got to the front of the hall, and then they signalled me to go back to my seat and I just jumped on stage. I wish there was a dance floor at the concert, the music was way too intense to be kept in rows of seats.
May 7th, 2007 at 2:40 am
Hey Nondescription: The music in the interval between Konono and Björk was Japanese motown songs from the 60’s.
May 7th, 2007 at 2:41 am
Don’t know about the post-show music though…
May 7th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
Thanks for the info, Jónas!