Nicki Minaj made headlines last month for leaving an audience waiting hours for her Pink Friday 2 World Tour show to start in Montreal. According to fans it was well past 11 p.m. when the rapper took to the stage. It wasn’t really her fault. It was a flight delay, or so it was reported.
But it has left tour-goers suspicious of a similar turnout. On Thursday, May 9, 2024 at Houston's Toyota Center, a full house danced to the stylings of DJ BOOF, the tour's opener, who played a string of Nicki Minaj hits before retiring his set, announcing that his time was up. The crowd’s energy dissipated and what was left was a strange and oddly quiet lull which lasted some time.
It wasn’t until 10:32 p.m. when Minaj would finally emerge from a trap door on the tallest shelf of a three tiered stage in a dress clad with a sculpted metallic bodice and white silk floor-length skirt. She jumped right into the first verse of “I’m the Best” from the original Pink Friday, Pink Friday 2's 14-year-old predecessor. The audience, who seemed largely unbothered by the singer’s late entrance, erupted into sincere applause.
As cliché as it may seem to claim that the crowd zealously sang back every lyric to their favorite artist, the moment the Trinidadian Queen of Rap emerged from the stage and rapped her first word, the packed stadium of, otherwise, extremely individual people, became a single hive mind of Nicki Minaj lyrics and inflection.
The singer’s metallic top and silky skirt were pealed off to reveal a pink sequined leotard complete with sparkly thigh-high boots. The quick outfit change—this would be the last quick one—brought us into the new era of Minaj’s catalog with “FTCU” from the tour’s namesake, Pink Friday 2. By the fan’s reaction to the first few lines of this song, I would call it a crowd favorite.
But the truth is Nicki Minaj has a lot of crowd favorites. Still, when the famed line came, the crowd sang just a little bit louder. OK, a lot louder: “High heels on my tippies,” 19,000 voices rang out, “Dolce and Gabbana, that’s on my titties!”
Visually, the production value underpromised and overdelivered. The stage looked simple enough before the show. But with pyrotechnics, fog jets, an impressive light design, and an assemblage of futuristically dressed dancers, a simple black stage became a spectacle fit for Nicki Minaj (and some other very big names—more on that later).
Hereon Minaj and company performed a slew of hits, including “Beep Beep,” “Press Play” and “Beez in the Trap” while a dynamic backdrop displayed skyscrapers and pink diamonds in motion.
Costume and set changes were slow. Sometimes unbearably so. The singer disappeared into a trapdoor as the last few seconds of a song played, queuing the lights to dim and an awkward prerecorded track to begin playing, accompanied by a video. This pause in performance lasted quite a long time and occurred several times throughout the show, which was perplexing given the live band, dancers, and other endlessly entertaining features at the tour’s disposal, all of which could have been used to divert the audience’s attention.
During the first set change, Nicki’s famous faux British accent spoke softly through the speaker stacks, over an innocuous late '90s electronic beat a la Miss Kittin, or even Moby (not what I expected at a Nicki Minaj concert). The audience was left to mundanely check their phones and watches, as if at an intermission of Parsifal, rather than the world tour of a rap legend.
When the rapper returned to the stage she wore a black leotard with sculptural golden hands across her chest. The hand theme continued throughout the backdrop where shadows of hands moved across an abstract pink scene. Here she performed “Pink Birthday”, a lively birthday anthem from her newest album; “Feeling Myself,” originally recorded with Beyoncé (not present) from her 2014 record The Pinkprint; and “Cowgirl”, which was performed, as you might expect, with plenty of cowboy hats.
“Where my island girls at?” Minaj asked the crowd, as the first chords of “Needle” played. Her dancers wore sleek pleather trousers and vests. And here, the choreography slipped from hiphop to something inching toward salsa.
After a second lengthy set change, dancers emerged dressed in what looked like black fire suits with under-lit conical hats. Immediately the fans knew which song these outfits would be accompanying: the controversial 2018 track “Chun-Li”. The song and its’ various performances were criticized early on for using “unimaginative Asian stereotypes." Either way, the rap star has doubled down on its visuals, wearing a green and red kimono with a red sash for this tour.
Minaj sang a number of songs with corresponding outfit changes. “Barbie Dangerous” was performed in a monochromatic pink business suit, like something right out of Legally Blonde’s Elle Woods closet. For “Monster” and “Roman’s Revenge” she wore a black mini dress with a sculptural silver head piece. And for the slower portion of the show, songs like “Fallin 4 U” and “Save Me” she was dressed in a stunning red lace dress. “Houston, won’t you save me?” She sang in repetition, closing out the song to a roar of heartfelt cheers from the audience.
Supporting talent, as they say, came in a different form for Houston’s Pink Friday 2 World Tour stop. Nicki Minaj disappeared from the stage only for R&B legend Monica to materialize from the stage door. The celebrated artist sang hits “So Gone” and “Before You Walk out of My Life” to an elated crowd. Monica was followed by rappers T-Wayne, Kirko Bangz, and BeatKing, all huge names in their own right. But fans went wild when 50 Cent casually walked out from the back curtain with two hype men. The rapper wasted no time before jumping into a few of his greatest hits, including “P.I.M.P.” “Candy Shop” and “ In Da Club.”
Unfortunately, the incredible crescendoing energy garnered by this verifiable dream team of rappers came to a complete halt for half an hour while stage hands attempted to remedy some, presumably, pretty serious technical difficulties. The downtime before Nicki Minaj’s return to stage was so lengthy, that groups of concertgoers were seen making a mass exodus. At this point it was well past midnight.
Finally, at 12:35 a.m. Minaj made her return. “Welcome to gag city, Houston. I know we’re a little bit late tonight.” “But I didn’t want to cut the show.” That was as much of an apology as the singer’s fans were going to get. And, with that charismatic, sly smile, that makes every fan feel like they’re Minaj’s best friend, they were happy to accept it.
Especially because what came next was a reminder of why Minaj commands a sold-out world tour in the first place. “Oh you thought the show was over?” She asked, whipping her head over her shoulder to glance once more at the crowd, “we got hits to do, bitch.”
Minaj closed with “The Night is Still Young," “Moment 4 Life” and finally, “Starships” which was sung to an endless spectacle of pyrotechnics.
Pink Friday 2, the album, has been criticized by some as a lackluster postscript to its prequel 13 years prior, and that it offers little by way of new subject matter or inspiration. But to many, and certainly commercially, it’s a hit maker, with plenty to say.
Where it truly delivers, though, is on a live stage with the incredible performance and production value that was achieved tonight. Though, maybe it could do without some of the waiting around. The tour will continue through Texas before crossing the pond to Great Britain and beyond through July of 2024. Don’t let the hiccups disenchant you, Pink Friday 2, and all its special guests, are well worth the trouble.
