Ben Folds kicks off the European leg of his 2011 world tour with a performance at Vicar Street in Dublin tonight, featuring music from his debut Nonesuch release, Lonely Avenue, a collaboration with English novelist Nick Hornby. After Saturday's stop in Birmingham, England, the tour heads to Hornby's hometown of London for a performance at the Hammersmith Apollo on Sunday. Time Out London recommends the show, describing Folds's work as "thumpingly fine and melodically sussed collegiate pop" from an artist "whose style suggests a Randy Newman for the iPod generation."

Fold recently completed a tour of the Midwestern United States with support from Street Corner Symphony, finalists on The Sing-Off, the TV singing competition of which Folds has been a judge for two seasons. Throughout the US tour, Folds enlisted the help of audience members to perform an a cappella version of the Lonely Avenue song "Working Day." He taught portions of the song to crowds each night and filmed it all. The final segment, along with the final US tour date, was postponed due to heavy snows, so stay tuned for more. In the mean time, you can see the work in progress on Folds's YouTube channel, benfoldstv.

After a number of additional stops in the UK, the European tour continues through Germany, Denmark, Austria, and the Netherlands. In May, the tour makes its way to the Southern Hemisphere for shows in Folds's once-adopted home country of Australia with shows in Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth. Then it's up to Japan for shows in Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya.

You can see the currently scheduled tour dates below. For more information, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.

Head to the Nonesuch Store to pick up a copy of Lonely Avenue on CD, vinyl, or in a special deluxe edition featuring the album on CD, four short stories by Hornby, 15 images by acclaimed photographer Joel Meyerowitz, all in a hardbound, 152-page book; high-quality, 320 kbps MP3s of the complete album are included at checkout.

BEN FOLDS ON TOUR