A rare Bird: From unique, oversized amps to sock monkeys, an Andrew Bird show is unlike many others.

Andrew Bird is on his biodiesel-powered bus in Asheville, N.C., a phone in his hand, waking up to another interview, another day on tour. It ‘s Sept. 11 — a date that could have everything, or nothing, to do with the metaphysical questions posed by his latest album, the multi-layered “Armchair Apocrypha. “