The longtime fans must have been thinking the same thing I was at the Phoenix Thursday night. Who are all these other people, and when did they get into Hawksley Workman?

The sold-out audience didn't reach its full strength of 1,000 until after the Leafs had finished with the Devils, but as Workman took the stage a few minutes after 10 p.m., his rise in popularity was clear: A year ago he was playing to 200 people at the Rivoli.

It might have been with the new fans in mind that the Toronto-based singer decided to reintroduce a hefty number of songs from his 1999 debut album, For Him And The Girls, rendered in the flashier style of current disc (Last Night We Were) The Delicious Wolves.

He played his best work, which is saying a lot considering how good it is, but there was still a level of unease to the performance that hasn't reared its head in the past. Workman has performed his songs in a variety of ways over the past 18 months, from one-man cabaret to inspired chamber-string epics, and it has always been with both gripping intensity and warm intimacy.

Along with his band, The Wolves, Workman ably filled up the rock space Thursday. Strangely, though, he didn't work himself into his trademark flamboyant persona until mid-set, only to drop the rock-star routine for an excellent, moody encore that included the astonishing No Beginning No End, Beautiful And Natural and Don't Be Crushed.

The flamboyant act usually looks so good on him I feel awkward saying this, but it might be time to play it straight and let the music stand on its own.