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.
