Rhiannon Giddens & Francesco Turrisi at Bing Concert Hall, February 7, 2020

Stanford University Live presents Rhiannon Giddens & Francesco Turrisi, with Jason Sypher
Bing Concert Hall
Stanford University, 327 Lasuen St, Stanford, CA 94305-5005 USA
7:30 PM, Friday, February 7, 2020

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[7:36 PM; lights down; greetings and announcements from Chris Lorway; band out: RG: banjo; FT: accordion]

1. [7:39 PM] Ten Thousand Voices »
   [7:41 PM; RG swaps from banjo to violin]
2. [7:41 PM] Inside Me Is Heaven »
3. [7:45 PM] (unidentified jig, missing time marker for transition)
   [7:49 PM; RB yack; FT swaps to drum; RB swaps back to banjo]
4. [7:52 PM] Following the North Star (false start - banjo feedback)
5. [7:53 PM] Following the North Star (false start #2 - more banjo feedback)
6. [7:54 PM] Following the North Star
   [7:58 PM; RG introduces the next tune as coming from Ola Belle Reed]
7. [7:58 PM] Gonna Write Me a Letter
   [8:03 PM; RG yack about banjos; FT swaps back to accordion]
8. [8:09 PM] Briggs' Forró
   [8:14 PM; RG takes off banjo and yacks; FT swaps back to piano]
9. [8:17 PM] At the Purchaser's Option
   [8:21 PM; RG adds banjo; FT swaps back to accordion]
10. [8:22 PM] Wayfaring Stranger
    [8:27 PM; RG merch rap; FT yacks about drums & tarentella]
11. [8:33 PM] Pizzica di San Vito
    [set ends 8:36 PM]

[8:58 PM; lights down; duo out: RG: banjo; FT: hand drum; RG says they'll start with “two minstrel tunes from 1855”]

1. [9:04 PM] (unidentified tune #1)
2. [9:05 PM] (unidentified tune #2)
   [9:06 PM; add JS; FT swaps to piano; RG talks about studying opera at Oberlin]
3. [9:08 PM] Gian Carlo Menotti: the Black Swan from The Medium (1946)
   [9:13 PM; RG yack about coon songs & Ethel Waters; RG: vox only; FT: accordion]
4. [9:15 PM] Underneath Our Harlem Moon
   [9:20 PM; RG more yack about Ethel Waters; RG swaps to violin; FT swaps to accordion]
5. [9:23 PM] Beth Cohen's Set
   [9:30 PM; FT yack about tambourines; RG swaps back to banjo; FT on hand drum]
6. [9:33 PM] I'm On My Way
   [9:36 PM; RG yack about touring in Ireland]
7. [9:38 PM] (FT tambourine solo) »
8. [9:40 PM] Molly Brannigan
   [9:45 PM; FT swaps back to piano; RG talks about future plans]
9. [9:51 PM] He Will See You Through
   [set ends 9:55 PM; bows; all off!]
   
   Encore
   [9:57 PM; RG yack about Grammy Awards; RG: tambourine; FT: piano]
10. [9:59 PM] The Lonesome Road »
11. [10:03 PM] Up Above My Head
    [show ends 10:05 PM; wow!]

• Rhiannon Giddens: violin, fretless banjo, tambourine, vox;
• Jason Sypher: contrabass;
• Francesco Turrisi: accordion, piano, hand drums.

Having really enjoyed her Bing show in 2016, I was psyched to see her on the schedule for this season, and bought a pair of primo floor seats in anticipation of a sublime evening.

The official program for this event is bizarrely brief – probably put together well in advance of the show, and I neglected to pick up any additional handout (if one was provided), so the notes I scribbled during the show into the white space on two pages form the basis of the setlist posted above, with confirmation for a few tune titles from the Leal review referenced below.

A “feature article” later in the program, the Radical Inclusiveness of Rhiannon Giddens can be found beginning on p.18; for convenience, I've copied both into a program notes pdf

Jonathan Leal posted a review of the show with SFCV.

dibyaduti posted about 36 min of audience-video from one of the side tier seats at Youtube; I checked out a few seconds and decided I didn't need to see the rest, but I'm not real tolerant of shaky hand-held camerawork – you might enjoy it better than me!

Big thanks to Ting for the photo gallery!

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2020 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2020 event list! ☸ On to the next event!