John Legend will pay tribute to vice presidential candidate Tim Walz’s home state of Minnesota by performing a medley of Prince songs Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention. The news was first reported by Rolling Stone and the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Any music that might surround Walz’s Wednesday night speech at the DNC gathering in Chicago has been a source of considerable interest, given what a music fan the world has been finding out the Minnesota governor is. Some supporters have even tweeted their wish lists of either classic-rock or Minnesota-related acts they hoped Walz would get to turn up… but a Replacements reunion is probably not to be.
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Legend has some history in covering Prince, having performed “Nothing Compares 2 U” as part of a Prince tribute at the Grammys in 2020.
Additionally, CNN exclusively reported Wednesday that Pink is set to perform Thursday night just before presidential candidate Kamala Harris takes the stage.
A few music stars performed on the first two nights of the convention, with Jason Isbell and Mickey Guyton performing on Monday night and Patti LaBelle and Common on Tuesday. James Taylor had been set to have the most high-profile spot on Monday, singing “You’ve Got a Friend” as a lead-in to his friend Joe Biden’s speech, but it was cut for time when the program was running well over an hour long.
Music also played a big role Tuesday night with DJ Cassidy running through a playlist of songs associated with different states as they joined in the traditional roll call, highlighted by a brief live appearance by Lil Jon among the otherwise recorded snippets.
