On Saturday, I told a friend I'd been to the Rufus Wainwright concert the night before.

"Who," she asked, "is Rufus Wainwright?"

I looked at her for a minute, not comprehending the question. "Well..."

I paused. How do you answer that question, exactly?

He's a singer, a songwriter. A performer. He's the son of folk/rock singer/songwriter Loudon Wainwright III and folksinger Kate McGarrigle. He's Canadian. He's gay. He's been called the best songwriter of this generation by Elton John, and was Rolling Stone's Best New Artist of the Year in 1998 -- and his first album, Rufus Wainwright, was their Album of the Year, too.

I'm not entirely sure how anyone could not have heard of him, but then again, my boss said something to me the other day about Lindsay Lohan and I was all like, who? I had to Google her. I mean, apparently there are gaps in everyone's cultural awareness and that's just something we have to accept.

Anyway, back to my friend. I ran the Rufus bio by her, and she nodded. "What kind of music does he do?"

And here we go again, because in the dictionary next to sui generis is a picture of Rufus Wainwright. Er, folk rock cabaret alternative torch song? What do you want from me?

At the August 3 show at San Francisco's Masonic Auditorium, Rufus brought it all. He opened with "Release the Stars," the title cut off his new album, with the thousand lights of a giant disco ball raining sparkles all over him, the stage, and the audience. He played guitar and piano, and ran through four costume changes, and a two-hour set (at least – it might have been longer but I lost all track of time), with enough genre-hopping to overwhelm a less gifted artist. He sang rock, folk, an un-miked Irish ballad, Judy Garland classics, and all of it with complete abandon and the passion he’s justly renowned for.

He served up most of the cuts off Release the Stars: “Going To a Town,� “Sanssouci,� “Rules and Regulations,� "Between My Legs," and probably some others I was too dazzled to remember. He sang “Harvester of Hearts� and “Art Teacher," and an a capella version of the Irish standard "Macushla."

And of course, he let his famous inner Judy Garland run free, giving us “A Foggy Day in London Town� and “If Love Were All," and a blistering hot version of "Come On, Get Happy."

Opener Sean Lennon was amusing and charismatic when chatting with the audience, and came out and did a dazzling rendition of "Across the Universe" with his and Rufus' combined bands.

If you're like my friend and don't know Rufus, fix that. Soon.