TORONTO - Much like the two distinctly different albums he released this year - Meat, in the traditional way, and Milk, as song-by-song digital downloads over several months - Hawksley Workman’s wildly diverse sound was on full display Saturday night as the singer-songwriter-guitaristcame home to play Massey Hall.

Actually, it was more like multiple musical personalities, as the 35-year-old Hunstville, Ont., native was hard to pin down in general.

His quirky cabaret-pop meets glam-rock has plenty of pomp-prog-nerd rock leanings too with a healthy dose of storytelling as Workman’s stream-of-consciousness, funny ramblings between songs took up as much time as the music itself over the course of a two-and-a-hour set.

And Workman even changed clothes halfway through.

He opened the show dressed down in a blazer and baggy jeans before donning a black toque and a violet, tie-dyed, stud-embossed jumpsuit with his entire band - Todd Lumley a.k.a. Mr. Lonely on keyboards, bassist Derrick Brady, violinist-guitarist Jesse Zubot and drummer Brad Kilpatrick - also changing into jumpsuits too.

“We were working on my Chevelle,” said Workman by way of explanation. “She’s a sweet ride.”

The audience was expected to keep up with his constant non-sequiturs and it almost felt like Workman’s extensive wordplay was just to occupy his busy brain - this is a prolific artist who has released 12 albums in as many years when not producing records for other Canadian bands like Great Big Sea and Tegan and Sara.

After Mr. Lonely opened with an instrumental medley of Workman’s songs, the singer and his three other band members walked on stage and the entire ensemble went to work, slowly growing in strength as the evening progressed with an increased emphasis on jammy improvisation.

Even snippets of Prince’s Raspberry Beret, Styx’s Mr. Roboto and Cheap Trick’s Surrender were thrown into the mix.

Highlights included many new tunes like the poppy Tokyo Bicycle, Baby Mosquito, Depress My Hangover Sunday (which he claimed to have written for Kylie Minogue in Sweden), We Dance To Yesterday, Warhol’s Portrait of Gretzky; the sweet rock-pop ballads Robot Heart, Snow Angel, and Song For Sarah Jane; and the straight out rockers Suicidekick and We’ll Make Time (Even When There Ain’t No Time).

The new material fit in nicely amongst older song standouts like Common Cold, Your Beauty Must Be Rubbing Off, The Future Language of Slaves, Lethal and Young, and Smoke Baby which saw Workman and Kilpatrick switch instruments mid-song.

And while Workman has a dedicated cult following, his genre-jumping sound is definitely an acquired taste given Massey was only about two-thirds full for what was the final show of his biggest cross-Canada tour yet.

Still, those that were there were definitely committed, like the woman wearing the “I love nerds,” T-shirt who climbed on stage just as the show was coming to a close because she claimed she had something important to say.

Before a security guard could escort her off, Workman silenced the heckling audience and allowed her to speak.

“I love you,” she said quietly before she scampered back to her front row seat.

“Love is patient, love is kind,” responded Workman, charming right to the very end.