The Journey Itself Is Home

My first thought upon wakening this morning, when I still had my eyes closed, was: Shit! I forgot to put the “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door. Now the cleaning lady will barge in and catch me in my bed…

This has actually happened several times on the tour.

It took me a few minutes to remember that I wasn’t in a hotel and that no one would disturb me. What a thrilling sensation!

Finally, since I’m posting all these photos: Here is my favorite from the gigography section of Björk.com!

Mark and Andy, audio system techs.

Damian just sent me these photos:

Ken and Richard, laser and pyrotechnics:

The quintessential Shaun Martin picture, according to Damian. Shaun claims, after my last blog about him, to be the president of JSAS - The Jónas Sen Appreciation Society!

Aland Pollard, backline technician. As has already been mentioned on Björk.com Apple interviewed Alan about the tour on their website. I understand that Apple translated what Allan and Damian said into “Californian”!

Matt, the lighting tech:

Jez Webb, backline technician:

Fraser, the lighting operator:

Jez and Rosemary Llagostera - the Björk Wardrobe master (mistress?):

Tracy Fraser, production assistant:

Chris Taplin, stage manager:

Anthony The Australian, videographer - responsible for what people see on the plasmas:

I’m home at last! And it is great. I’ll be in Iceland untill August 20 or thereabouts - hopefully I won’t see a suitcase in the meantime!

We gave our last concert on the European leg of the tour on the Paleo Festival in the vicinity of Geneva last Saturday. I think it was a fine concert, at least, I enjoyed every minute of it. As far as I could see, so did the others. Björk was unusually flippant when she sang Declare Your Independence, screaming more than singing when the song was coming to an end - and then bursting into a laugh. I couldn’t help laughing either.

Björk’s electronic harpsichord was repaired in Switzerland, and I played on it, as well as the Yamaha CP300. I really love that instrument - hopefully it will OK this time.

We were the last band to perform that evening on the Paleo, but the band immediately before us was Arcade Fire. I saw some of their show on the TV monitor backstage - I think they were stunning. Björk’s Brass band, the Wonderbrass, joined them on stage during the encore and played with them (hey, Arcade Fire - I want to do that too!).

After the show we had a great party, i.e. Arcade Fire and us. The only problem was that the music was so loud that it was painful. Why music has to be deafening is something I’ll never be able to understand.

Wonderbrass performing with Arcade Fire:

Wonderbrass and yours truly:

We always get a pizza after a show:

The party afterwards:

Here is a new version of Oceania!

I ran into Chris Corsano as I was going out of my hotel room today. I said to him: “This hotel makes you feel very lazy.” He laughed and said he agreed totally with me. He is in the room next door.

I haven’t done anything since I came to Geneva, except practise a little to keep my fingers fresh. I have a keyboard that I take with me everywhere, and I use it to do finger exercises, Hanon, scales, arpeggios, etc. I do it every day, except on the days after a concert.

Also, it is never a good idea to practice on the days of a show. You want to direct all your energy into the actual performance, not spend it on a practise session.

Here is a photo of our ever busy Shaun and Peter. Shaun is our tour manager and Peter our production manager. I fear they find me extremely annoying, for I’m a very difficult person, always getting into trouble. But I love them all the same!

I forgot to mention that Ghostigital was our supporting band in Udine. Here they are, just before jumping on stage. They look sweaty already, so it is not difficult to imagine how they looked like after their concert in that awful heat.

In the center is Einar, to the right is Curver and to the left is Peter van der Velde.

And here is a photo of the drivers who have been responsible for our lives during the European leg of the tour, Jona (to the left) and Phil.