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.

[1] 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.

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".

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.

After some rumours started circulating during 2006, in January 2007, through Björk's official website, it was announced that a new album, the follow-up to her 2004 record Medúlla was being ultimated.

[11] At the start of the tour, Björk performed three songs at a benefit concert at Club Nasa in Reykjavík on April 1 for Forma, an Icelandic organisation which deals with people who have eating disorders.

During October, 2007, the first dates for 2008 were confirmed, with Björk playing seven shows in Australia and New Zealand for the Big Day Out and Sydney Festival.

[23] Further dates were announced in Japan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Indonesia and United Kingdom.

[52] Immediately there was an 'uneasy atmosphere' and fans left the venue quickly,[53] and internet forums such as Tianya fielded many negative comments on her statement.

[56] In an interview, Björk said that she did not "[plan] a trip to China with the purpose of... propaganda" and that Chinese officials "sensationalized" her performance.

[57][58] On July 17, 2008 the Chinese Ministry of Culture announced that artistic groups who "threaten national unity" or "whip up ethnic hatred" among other things during live events would be banned from performing.

Björk and Sigur Rós headlined free concert "Náttúra" was live streamed by Nat Geo Music.

[68] On June 25, 2007, it was announced on pianist Jonas Sen tour blog, that a recording session at Olympic Studios in London took place with the band earlier that day.

On January 31, 2009, it was announced that a box set called Voltaïc, which would contain the London live session and both the Paris and Reykjavik shows, along with music videos and remixes, was to be released during the year.

[74] The collection, originally bound to a March, 2008, release, saw many delays due to a manufacturing error which led to 20,000 copies of the box-set having to be destroyed, and with a remanufacture necessary, Björk decided to make changes to the track listing resulting in four songs being cut from the live DVD.

[75] Towards the end of April 2009 Universal Europe accidentally shipped their Deluxe Edition copies of Voltaïc early.

However, UK-based music retailer CD Wow was found to be for a brief period selling un-cut copies of the box set, before its official release.

[78] A preview of the DVD was released on YouTube on June 16, 2009,[79] while footage from "Declare Independence" from Paris and "Sonnets/Unrealities XI" from Reykjavík were premiered by Pitchfork and Rolling Stone, respectively.