Having subjected myself to too much bad art (see below) recently, it was refreshing to see Elliott Smith's second SF performance last night. Even with reports of Smith being a mess, obviously strung-out and/or drunk, forgettful, and "sad", I didn't find much in his performance too different from the three or four Bottom of the Hill shows he's played over the past five years. Smith alone is a different animal than the Elliott Smith who's toured with Quasi and others in the past couple of years, which makes me think that the majority of those making the complaints had never seen him do a solo show before (can't blame them, his Bottom of the Hill shows were notoriously crowded) . Where I've found his full band shows to be rushed and unsettlingly unintimate, his solo shows are remarkable for the humanity that comes through; while he flubbed a lot of his older material, he admitted to having not practiced any of it, and was only playing them because he was nice enough to attempt everything that anyone requested of him. His new songs were excellent with a darker tone than those that appeared on "Figure 8." The obligatory Harrison nod was made with "Give Me Love" and his spontaneous "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" went off without a hitch. Jason Lytle of Grandaddy showed up again to sing on the last song. From now on, I know a show isn't over until I've seen Jason's hat and beard up on stage for the final encore.