The Journey Itself Is Home

Here is a tiny video I shot in Wolverhampton. The sound is awful because the stage was so small and I was too close to the main speaker on stage.

This venue was one of the smallest ones we have played in. I like small concert halls (I think we all agree on this) because it makes one’s relationship to the audience more intimate.

Right now we are in Blackpool. Apparently this seaside resort is the most popular one in the UK, though when we arrived there yesterday in the late afternoon, the popularity was not very visible.

Blackpool has seen a sizable drop in numbers of visitors in the last fifteen or so years, from 17 million to 10 million. Nowadays many visitors stay for the weekend rather than for longer stretches of time. Maybe we should have been here a few days earlier!

But Belfast was good, in spite of the city’s strange lack of character. It was good because our show there was great fun, and because we got the chance to visit Giants Causeway, a spectacularly beautiful beach. And the coastal ride back to the city was breathtaking.

In fact, I haven’t been so moved by a scenery since I visited the island of Capri many, many moons ago.

Damian sent me this photo, taken just after our show in the Hammersmith Apollo, when everyone had left.

What a mess!

Since we are in Belfast now - we arrived here this morning after travelling all night - I thought I should present you with one of my favorite poems by the Irish poet William Butler Yeats. Here goes:

THE SONG OF WANDERING AENGUS

I went out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread:
And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout.

When I had laid it on the floor
I went to blow the fire aflame,
But something rustled on the floor,
And some one called me by my name:
It had become a glimmering girl
With apple blossom in her hair
Who called me by my name and ran
And faded through the brightening air.

Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.

—

We had a little party after the concert yesterday. Björk, Leila and me deejayed. The hit song of the evening was no doubt Rasputin with Boney M.

Oh yeah, oh yeah!

One morning I woke up in Wolverhampton (we are on a sleeping coach now).

I hate to say it, but Wolverhampton is not the most exciting part of Britain. So I have been spending my spare time composing music and watching DVDs.

Apparently I missed a performance by the (presumably) world’s fattest ballet dancers last night. Obviously SOMETHING is going on here. But the place makes me so depressed that even enormous ballerinas don’t tempt me.

Probably the reason why the music I composed today sounds like a soundtrack for a horror movie.

The Triumph Of A Heart video is about Björk’s stormy marriage to a cat, whom she leaves for a time to get drunk at the now extinct bar Sirkus in Reykjavík. I only saw the video recently while I was sweating on a skiing machine in my gym in Reykjavík, and the audio was turned off. I had a laughing fit, most of the actors are good friends of mine and on the video I saw them in a completely new light, which was very funny. And Björk was hilarious.

I’m mentioning this because I came across somebody on the 4UM who had seen Triumph Of A Heart on a recent setlist, and was disappointed that it wasn’t performed. I’m not going to comment on that per se, but I did email Björk recently, offering to play the cat in the song, whenever we would play it. She asked me back: “Ok, but who will play Sirkus?”

It is a shame Sirkus has closed down (I’m not sure why). I have many fond memories from that bar. My last time there was when I attended an absolutely fabulous concert with Ghostigital.

So my question is: What BAR in Reykjavík is going to play Sirkus in the future?

“Religion…is a belief structure that helps people make sense of the world.”

Björk has stated several times that she isn’t much for religion. Nonetheless, a certain religion is practised on the Volta tour.

This is the religion of Macintosh worship.

I’m a Windows user and I have been made fun of again and again, from the beginning of the tour, just because I don’t worship Steve Jobs.

They have almost succeeded in brainwashing me.

THEY. The Mac Converts!

“Umberto Eco, the Italian semiologist, once famously compared Macs and PCs to the two main branches of the Christian faith: Catholics and Protestants.

“The Mac is Catholic, he wrote in his back-page column of the Italian news weekly, Espresso, in September 1994. It is “cheerful, friendly, conciliatory, it tells the faithful how they must proceed step by step to reach — if not the Kingdom of Heaven — the moment in which their document is printed.”

“The Windows PC, on the other hand, is Protestant. It demands “difficult personal decisions, imposes a subtle hermeneutics upon the user, and takes for granted the idea that not all can reach salvation. To make the system work you need to interpret the program yourself: A long way from the baroque community of revelers, the user is closed within the loneliness of his own inner torment.”

“Eco was joking, but, as some experts have noted, the Mac community does in fact resemble a religion. As do Mac users themselves.”

See more here.

The Hammersmith Apollo is the shabbiest concert venue I have ever been to. And the food I had backstage… bangers and mash? What IS that?

But we had a hell of a show!

Today I have mainly been walking around London. Met some friends and, in general, had a very nice time. I guess the same goes for the rest of us.

I had SUCH A GREAT TIME YESTERDAY! WE performed Where Is the Line, among other songs. It was a splendid setlist.

Usually after a long break (this time we have had a five weeks’ vacation) our first concert is something of a mishap. I’m not saying it is a total failure, just that we are often quite rusty and make mistakes, often accompanied by technical problems. At least, that’s how I experience it. But not yesterday. The vibes were beautiful and I think everyone did their very best.

Today we drove to London. I wore an amazing sleeper hoodie made Burton Snowboards, sent to me as a gift by one of their team managers, no less. I highly recommend it!

The tour has begun again. It is now more than a year since it started. In my reconing it begun on April 1 with our very first live performance, though the first REAL concert was on April 9.

The harpsichord I’m playing on sounds nice and resonant, I tried it yesterday. A lot better than the harpsigurdy I played on in Japan…

Last night I heard Wonderbrass having a rehearsal from an adjacent room. I considered knocking on the wall, just to tease them!

We arrived in Manchester yesterday. It was raining. Kind of depressing, really.

It is still grey outside. Hopefully, tonight will be more fun.