Review: Boyz II Men and Chaka Khan bring vocal firepower to Minnesota State Fair

Sweet Martha's cookies and milk. A footlong hot dog and mustard. Bacon and just about anything. The Minnesota State Fair likes to pair things.

For the grandstand concerts, the fair loves to partner veteran R&B acts, whether it's divas, vocal groups or bands.

Last year, it was the Temptations and Tower of Power. In 2021, TLC was teamed with Shaggy, and the Spinners shared a bill with Little Anthony and the Imperials. Other memorable matches included Patti LaBelle with the Commodores in 2015 and Aretha Franklin and the Four Tops the year before that.

On Sunday, it was a nongenerational coupling with '90s vocal sensations Boyz II Men and Chaka Khan, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer who made her mark with Rufus in the '70s and continued with solo success in the '80s and thereafter.

Khan, 70, could certainly have done a diva turn at the grandstand, but she was often on fire at times during her too-brief 50-minute set.

The 10-time Grammy winner hit the stage sporting big hair, big earrings and a big smile for "This Is My Night." It was her night, from Rufus' favorites like "Tell Me Something Good" to her solo hits — the anthemic "I'm Every Woman" and "I Feel for You," the tune from Prince's 1979 sophomore album that she transformed into a 1984 hit.

To be honest, Khan, who was disappointing in her last Twin Cities appearance in 2018 at the Minnesota Zoo, let her three first-rate backup singers carry some of the load Sunday, and sometimes she made up lyrics, skipped lines or offered wordless vocalizing in a vibe that could be described as scream-and-groove. But her gloriously soaring soul siren was evident in abundance, especially on Rufus' "You Got the Love," proving why she earned her Rock Hall induction.

For Boyz II Men, it was their second consecutive gig with a Hall of Fame act from another era, the trio's spokesman, Shawn Stockman, explained early in their 75-minute performance. The night before, they hooked up with the Isley Brothers in Chicago.

Boyz II Men prudently opened Sunday with the lively "Motownphilly," their 1991 debut single and only up-tempo hit. The Philly vocal group scored four of the biggest singles of the '90s, but all were ballads, including "On Bended Knee." To invigorate the mix in concert, the trio relied on lots of conversation and lots of covers. In fact, seven of their 15 tunes were treatments of hits by others.

During a rock medley, the four-time Grammy winners practically turned into a Lenny Kravitz tribute band, doing "Are You Gonna Go My Way" and "American Woman" (Kravitz's version of a Guess Who hit), which were bookended by Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" and Bruno Mars' "Locked Out of Heaven." And who expected to hear the Beatles' "Come Together," Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight" and Journey's "Open Arms" by Boyz II Men?

Probably not many in the crowd of 10,356.

It was all in the name of entertainment, which Stockman pointed out. And Boyz II Men were entertaining even though they had very little choreography, missed the bass voice of Michael McCrary (who retired in 2003 because of multiple sclerosis and wasn't replaced) and should have featured tenor Wanya Morris, their most commanding performer, more often.

Both Khan and Boyz II Men were too famous to open the show, so the fair provided an appetizer — Woodbury sibling quartet Nunnabove, who found the stage too big but not the occasion. The Nunn brothers and sisters sparkled visually and musically. And their appearance made the 2023 inclusive grandstand lineup boast at least one act that made their first impact in the '60s (the Turtles), the '70s (Khan), the '80s (Duran Duran), the '90s (the Chicks), the 2000s (Brandi Carlile), 2010s (Yung Gravy) and the 2020s (Nunnabove).