Pitchfork

This spring, dapper Andrew Bird ditches the armchair for the open road and forgoes the apocrypha for the holy truth of song, touring across the U.S. and Europe in support of Armchair Apocrypha, out March 20 on Fat Possum.

Joining Bird for various dates are the blogtastic support trio of Cold War Kids, Tokyo Police Club, and Elvis Perkins, Broken Social Scenester Apostle of Hustle, and folk-rocker Cortney Tidwell. And although something of a one-man-band, Andrew has enlisted trusty sidemen Martin Dosh (drums, percussion) and Jeremy Ylvisaker (guitar, bass) to share the stage at all engagements.

Just which aspect of multi-faceted Bird will woo you on this tour? Will it be his dashing good looks? His catchy, sophisticated tunes? His way with whistling? His prowess with the pedals? The romantic swoop of his violin arm? Or how about his environmentally-friendly touring habits?

That's right, Andrew's working with non-profit group Reverb to make this tour awesome for fans and Mother Nature alike. He'll fuel his tour bus with vegetable oil-derived biodiesel, make all shows "carbon neutral" with help from Native Energy, hawk eco-friendly merch, and even fill the green room with, well, green goods thanks to Stonyfield Farm.

What's more, Mr. Bird's dabblings in film and dance are set to take root this year as well. He's presently accepting submissions for non-profit project the Chicago Short Film Brigade (details here), and you may hear his composition for Molly Shanahan's dance piece My Name Is Blackbird at Chicago's Building Stage this April (details here).

Bird's migration:

03-14 Dallas, TX - Gypsy Tea Room *
03-16 Austin, TX - SXSW
03-19 Dublin, Ireland - CrawDaddy
03-20 Galway, Ireland - Roisin Dubh
03-21 Dublin, Ireland - CrawDaddy
03-22 London, England - Bush Hall
03-23 Brussels, Belgium - Botanique
03-24 Gothenburg, Sweden - Club Woody @ Pusterviksbaren
03-25 Stockholm, Sweden - Kagelbanan/Sodra Teatern
03-29 Paris, France - La Maroquinerie
03-30 Amiens, France - Musique de Jazz et d'Ailleurs Festival
03-31 Benicàssim, Spain – CinemaScore
04-11 Grand Rapids, MI – Calvin College (Ladies Literary Club) #
04-12 Detroit, MI – Majestic Theater #
04-13 Columbus, OH – Southern Theatre #
04-14 Newport, KY – Southgate House Ballroom #
04-16 Nashville, TN – Mercy Lounge #
04-17 St. Louis, MO – The Pageant
04-18 Urbana, IL – Canopy Club #
04-20 Chicago, IL - Riveria Theatre ^
04-21 Milwaukee, WI - The Pitman Theatre at Alverno College ^
04-22 Columbia, MO - Blue Note ^
04-23 Omaha, NE - Sokol Underground ^
04-25 Boulder, CO – Fox Theatre ^
04-27 Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theatre ^
04-28 Indio, CA - Empire Polo Field (Coachella)
05-01 San Francisco, CA - Fillmore ^
05-04 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom ^
05-05 Seattle, WA - Showbox Theater ^
05-11 Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
05-16 Boston, MA – Berklee Performance Center
05-17 New York, NY – Webster Hall
05-18 Philadelphia, PA – Theatre of Living Arts
05-20 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club

* with Cold War Kids, Tokyo Police Club, Elvis Perkins, Patrick Watson
# with Cortney Tidwell
^ with Apostle of Hustle