Last week was a great week for live music, and we managed to see three fantastic shows. Last Friday we started off seeing Rufus Wainwright at Nob Hill Masonic Auditorium. Having (somehow) never been there before, we were delighted that it's yet another not-a-bad-seat-in-the-house venue in a city full of (in our opinion) the best in the country. It was a classy setting for a positively theatrical performance: Rufus strutted out in his lederhosen and took his place behind the grand piano, with his all male revue on bass, drums, horns and guitar. All but Rufus wore fake moustaches (he associates SF with moustaches, he said) and a lot of 70's inspired stripes. One guy in the three-person horn section was the spitting image of John Galliano. Rufus filled the room with his enormous voice and offered a setlist to satisfy the most acute case of A.D.D. He pulled from old and new material, donned a glittering diamond necklace to prepare for a few Judy Garland covers, and sang without the microphone on an Irish standard. We were thrilled to hear live renditions of some of the huge sounds off of Release The Stars. The singing and playing were spot on, and Sir Wainwright really knows how to deliver a performance.

Click below to read our review of St. Vincent's show last Friday, plus this week's show recommendations.