When members of the band Mint Condition (Stokley Williams, Homer O’Dell, Lawrence Waddell, Jeffrey Allen, Keri Lewis, and Rick Kinchen) performed together for the first time in nearly a decade at the Minnesota State Fair on Aug. 29, the crowd made its joy known during the two-song set featuring “U Send Me Swingin” and "Breakin' My Heart (Pretty Brown Eyes).”
“To hear the energy when they were announced and then the energy when they performed the two signature tracks, it was the whole crowd singing, a vibe,” said Lanier Stewart, who traveled from Los Angeles to see the Mint Condition performance.
The feeling was mutual for members of the band invited to be a part of the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand show, "HOMECOMING: A Celebration of the Minneapolis Sound" a star-studded concert led by iconic producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The pair discovered Mint Condition, an R&B and funk band, formed in St. Paul in the mid-1980s.
“It felt like it looked: amazing,” said Stokley Williams, lead singer of Mint Condition.
“It was a homecoming for Mint, for us to be at home with Jam and Lewis. It was like riding a bike. We kept it raw. We didn’t want it too refined because that’s part of our charm.”
In his review for the Star Tribune, music critic Jon Bream described Mint Condition's reunion with its seven original members as a spirited performance that highlighted the enduring musical relevance of the Twin Cities. Bream later highlighted the group as one of the standout special moments during a summer concert season wrap-up.
“Man, it was kinda crazy, cause you just don’t know,” said Jeffrey Allen, who plays keyboard and saxophone for Mint Condition. “Then when you see all the people standing up and screaming, you have flashbacks of how it was years ago.”
Mint Condition signed with Perspective Records and released its debut album, Meant to Be Mint, in 1991. The group achieved mainstream success with the hit single "Breakin' My Heart (Pretty Brown Eyes)," which spent 34 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Known for its dynamic live performances, the band blended traditional soul, jazz, and rock, maintaining a dedicated following and releasing a string of successful albums through the 1990s and 2000s. Though the band never officially broke up, they entered an indefinite hiatus from recording and touring in 2016.
The state fair concert begged the question for many fans. “Everyone asks, ‘are you coming back together and touring?’ and we’ll see what’s possible,” Williams said. “Nothing is etched in stone, but I’m open.”
Williams’ fellow band member agreed that the State Fair performance had lots of fans talking. “I think it has to be the right opportunity, and I think we’re leaning toward it happening organically,” said Allen. “This thing came together organically, and it felt really good.”
The timing couldn’t be better as R&B music is experiencing a mainstream resurgence, driven by a massive 349.9 billion on-demand audio streams in the United States, according to a Luminate Year-End Report.
“Mint fans are different,” said Stewart. “They are really educated on music and performance. It would do a lot for music in general to see them get back together and spark other groups.”
