Greatest Hits Tour (Björk)

In 2001, Björk embarked on her fourth tour, the Vespertine World Tour, which featured the singer playing in opera houses and theatres backed by the 54-piece orchestra Il Novecento.[1] During a press conference in Barcelona, Spain, before her concert at Liceu, Björk confirmed that there would have been another tour the following year, which would have featured more conventional locations and band.[2] On January 26, 2002, it was announced that Björk would headline the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival which was to take place in April 2002.[3] By the time of the show, the singer was pregnant with her second child, the first with partner Matthew Barney, and the show was the only planned appearance for the year.[4] During the course of 2002, Björk released her first greatest hits album, aptly called Greatest Hits, and first box set, Family Tree, which followed a string of DVD releases which spanned her first ten years of solo career. Björk stated that the process "was like spring cleaning, complete with nostalgic, boring, and mushy moments, but ultimately, it was liberating to have an absolutely clean attic. Now, I have a brand-new chalkboard on which to work".[5] The singer gave birth to her daughter, Ísadóra Bjarkardóttir Barney, on October 3, 2002. At the end of the year, the first dates for Björk's newest tour were announced in Verona, Paris and Hamburg.[6] More dates were later added in March 2003, including two headlining shows in Russia, where the singer had never played before.[7] Björk was confirmed to headline the Fuji Rock Festival in Yuzawa, Niigata, Japan[8] and further shows were announced to take place in North America, including two shows at Brooklyn KeySpan Park.[9][10] In April, it was confirmed that Zeena Parkins and Matmos, who have played with her during her last tour, would rejoin her, along with the Icelandic String Octet, that was part of the band during the Homogenic Tour.[11] Leila Arab was later confirmed to be a part of the band too, but she appeared only during the European and Asian shows due to visa issues. On May 16, Björk streamed via webcast the final rehearsal for the upcoming tour live at the Loftkastalinn Theatre in Reykjavík.[9]

The shows featured pyrotechnics, moving sculptures on stage and video projections. The London-based direction and animation collective Lynn Fox provided the backdrops for some songs on the tour, including "Pluto", "Desired Constellation", "Unravel" and "It's in Our Hands".[12] During the tour Björk wore dresses by Jeremy Scott and Shoplifter along with ornaments by young Icelandic designer and, most notably, a pair of ear ornaments by Alexander McQueen.[13][14]

Björk performing at the Fuji Rock Festival on July 26, 2003

The tour received positive reviews from critics. John Mulvay of Yahoo! Music noted that the show "initially seems [...] a virtual reprise of her Vespertine performances. In fact, Vespertine idea - a sort of solemn classical fragility underpinned by volatile, glitchy rhythms - is extended to permeate rarely-visited corners of Björk's back catalogue" and praised the show by saying "it's closer to high art than pop, incorporating performance art, chamber music and radical sound design".[15] David Peschek of The Guardian, reviewing the first show in London, commented that "there is more rhythmic invention in this show than in the rest of current electronic music. Björk has become a curator of exotic, alien sounds, the latest in a rare lineage that includes Martin Denny, Esquivel, Lalo Schifrin and Yello", ultimately labeling the show as "thrilling".[16] Ian Watson of NME wrote that "With the help of harpist Zeena Parkins and San Franciscan sound sculptors Matmos, who've fashioned lithe, subtle beats from the sounds of cracking ice and shuffled cards, her Bjorkness is moving ever closer to her ultimate dream. A breathtaking fusion of tradition and progress, of electronica and steam, of classical beauty in a groundbreaking frame".[17]

Neva Chonin of the San Francisco Chronicle billed the show as "one of the most delightfully mind-blowing pop spectacles of the year" and further commented "the pop world’s eccentric dancing queen topped herself by putting on a show as strange, beautiful and playfully joyous as herself."[18] Steven Mirkin of Variety, reviewing her performance at Hollywood Bowl, opined that "her performance did not quite live up the high bar she set", confronting the show to her last concert in Los Angeles at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, but later added "it was an impressive evening nonetheless".[19] A more lukewarm review came for her two shows at KeySpan Park, with Andy Gensler of Rolling Stone commenting "the sheer spectacle overwhelmed fans at the Brooklyn ballpark - even if the meaning was often lost in the explosions" and further adding that the show was "impressive, but it also prompted a question: Why?".[20]

The show's fashion was critically lauded. David Peschek stated "Björk walks on stage wearing the kind of dress [...] that the people who compile fashion pages like to laugh at, not realising she dresses that way because she finds fashion funny."[16] Gene Stout of the Seattle Post Globe stated that the outfits were "fun, fanciful and typically Björk" and noted how the singer's eclectic fashion choices influenced her fans by saying that they "also expressed their individual Björk-ness with odd costumes and gender-blending accessories. What was most striking about Björk’s fans was their attentiveness. Many appeared mesmerized by the diminutive, fairy-like singer and her soaring, eccentric blend of pop, electronica, classical and old-European musical elements."[21] Ta-Nehisi Coates of The Village Voice stated that "she looked exquisitely ridiculous".[22]

• Greatest Hits Tour Summary at old.bjork.com
• 2003 gigography at bjork.com