Recap and photos: Mavis Staples and Lucius bring joy to St. Paul

June 18, 2026

Guitarist Rick Holmstrom, drummer Steve Mugalian and Mavis Staples performing at the Ordway Concert Hall in St. Paul on Wednesday, June 17, 2026.Laura Buhman for MPR

Three songs into her set at the Ordway Music Hall in St. Paul on Wednesday evening, Mavis Staples shared her mission for the night. “We want you to feel good,” the legendary singer announced, speaking on behalf of herself and her band. “We want you to feel better when you leave here than when you first came up in here.”

Staples and guitarist Rick Holmstrom, bassist Gregory Boaz, drummer Steve Mugalian, and backing vocalists Kelly Hogan and Saundra Williams were already well on their way to achieving that.

Across a 12-song set, Staples and her band filled the Ordway Music Hall with soulful sounds drawing from Staples’ solo releases, including her 2025 album, Sad and Beautiful World, as well as from the Staple Singers’ deep back catalogue. The music got the audience clapping, dancing, and singing along in a space more accustomed to hosting Brahms than blues. The room’s acoustics-first design nurtured the sound majestically on the second of two nights of performances.

Although Staples announced her feel-good intent for the evening, she also issued the St. Paul audience a call to action. Specifically, when Staples and company segued their performance of “Freedom Highway,” the title track to the Staple Singers’ 1965 album, into “No Time for Crying” off Staples’ 2017 solo release, If I All I Was Was Black, Staples interstitially implored the audience to work for democracy and equal rights. “We got work to do,” she spoke-sang. “We don’t need no king, we don’t need no dictator, we don’t need no man telling us women what to do with our bodies.”

Two musicians performing together onstage in a concert hall — Guitarist Rick Holmstrom and Mavis Staples performing at the Ordway Concert Hall in St. Paul on Wednesday, June 17, 2026.
Laura Buhman for MPR

At 86, Staples knows how to take care of herself onstage. A cushioned piano bench waited in front of the drum kit, allowing Staples a place to rest her feet for a few moments as needed. She also sipped ginger tea to keep her vocals refreshed. Staples even deftly shut down a loudmouth a couple of times during the show (raising the larger question: What compels a person to attempt to heckle Mavis Staples? Perhaps Eddie Murphy answered the question in 1982 when he said, about a different subject, “I guess the guy figured, ‘Look, I want to go to hell, but I don’t want to stand [in] a line with everybody else. I want the hell express.”)

The onstage rapport Staples shared with longtime guitarist Rick Holmstrom was also a delight to watch. They traded playful quips about who, of the two of them, is the bandleader. Clearly it’s a shared duty, but Holmstrom and Staples defer to and jovially rib one another as the longtime friends they are. And Staples is unafraid to wear her hometown pride on her sleeve, singing Tom Waits’ “Chicago” with a passion that she shares with backing vocalist Hogan (backing vocalist Williams is a New Yorker, and the three instrumentalists are Californians).

On her cover of Talking Heads’ “Slippery People,” Staples invited Holly Laessig and Jess Wolfe of Lucius back onstage to provide additional backing vocals. Staples’ love for Laessig and Wolfe was clear as she called the duo her “little sisters” who have “voices like angels.” “They’ve got little babies,” Staples added, “and I’m like the grandma.”

Three musicians performing together onstage in a concert hall — Holly Laessig, Jess Wolfe and Solomon Dorsey of Lucius performing at the Ordway Concert Hall in St. Paul on Wednesday, June 17, 2026.
Laura Buhman for MPR

Lucius deserved their own plaudits for their spectacular opening of the show. Performing as a four-piece anchored by Laessig and Wolfe with founding guitarist Peter Lalish and bassist/backing vocalist Solomon Dorsey, the Ordway gave Lucius a room that’s as finely tuned as they are. The sound of each musician blossomed in the space, the way all the component petals interlace to comprise a singular, beautiful flower. Additionally, the stripped-down sound of the band showcased Laessig and Wolfe’s thoughtful and poetic lyrics in a fresh way. And whether the audience were devoted Lucius fans or those hearing them for the very first time, it’s always notable when the opening artists elicit a standing ovation.

Staples was the headliner, however, both literally and figuratively. And she did as she promised, leaving the audience feeling better than they did when they arrived, serenading them with “Everybody Needs Love” as her final number.

With a highly accomplished career that stretches back to the mid-20th century, it’s hard to find the superlatives to describe Mavis Staples, but Lucius’ Jess Wolfe certainly gave it her best attempt, saying, “Our dear, beloved, iconic, magnificent, joy-in-human-form, Mavis Staples.”

Mavis Staples

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