James Perovich
Last updated on May 15th, 2024 at 05:22 pm
On Saturday, April 27, Music in Minnesota had the pleasure to witness the Nicki Minaj tour stop at the Target Center in Minneapolis. James Perovich shared his real time notes below. -Ed.
8:05 – Entering the stadium awash in pink. Skirts. Shirts. Boots. Jackets. Underwear. I also saw several American flags which I found peculiar until I realized Nicki Minaj’s face was on them.
9:00 – DJ Boof hits the stage with no intro and immediately turns the stadium into a club by playing Minaj tracks. Other artists are mixed into the DJ set, like Fetty Wap, Drake, as well as the iconic air horn.
9:06 – Obligatory “Bedrock” clip for the fans around “since day one”. Otherwise his setlist is like 2000’s Greatest Rap Stadium Jams.
9:12 – Minneapolis is apparently the best stop on “Gag City”.
9:14 – In an attempt to go viral, Boof has the crowd do The Wave. Yes, that Wave.
9:16 – Big regroup by the DJ playing one of Minaj’s early mixtape tracks and a personal favorite “Itty Bitty Piggy”. Pretty cool to hear.
9:30 – A** A** A** A** A** A** A** A** A** A** is well received. And another proclamation of Minneapolis being the “best city on the tour”.
10:10 – After hyping up the crowd, a 40-minute pause seems, as the kids say, a weird flex. Yet there is no opener, and after a video introduction, Minaj enters to “I’m the Best”.
10:15 – Slight outfit change and the dancers enter. “FTCU” is highly applicable to the crowd’s energy right now. Lots of shine and sparkle and LOTS of singing along. Minaj gives a nice greeting to Minneapolis, too.
10:20 – Heavy pink futuristic aesthetic to costumes and graphics, like a polished Jetsons but moodier. I am also enjoying concertgoers singing along to their phones while recording themselves. Many even brought additional LED lights for the cause.
10:26 – Minaj descends below the stage. Video interlude of robot Minaj assembly line. Ironic considering how much she raps about being the best, queen, etc. I can not catch the words but it is very philosophical, about life and growth and miracles and determination. It ended commenting Gag City, B****.
10:32 – Happy “Pink Birthday”. And sensual floor work over minimal lyrics (she was dancing quite a bit) to an abridged clip. Which perfectly leads into “Feeling Myself”. Video projections more neon and tropical. Target Center is like a Gag City resort. Minaj also makes her way to the end of the thrust stage for “Favorite” and more sensual dancing to lucky fans along the rail.
10:40 – “Cowgirl” along with cowboy hat-wearing male dancers. Very wise choice capitalizing on Cowboy Carter vibes.
10:43 – Minaj reaches into her top and pulls out two things and throws them into crowd. Pasties? They had some air time. And she fiddles with the claws on her top a bit.
10:48 – I wish Drake came out for “Needle”. That would be cool.
10:50 – “Ganja Burns” interlude and immediate influx of weed smell. Minaj switches into a more Asian motif in graphics and dancers’ costumes before “Chun Li”. Minaj emerges from more labeled doll boxes, as for “Red Ruby Da Sleeze”. Costumes change, Minaj’s commanding presence does not.
11:02 – “Barbie Girl” sample is very well received. Dancer interlude over Minaj tracks and Barbie costume change into “Barbie World”.
11:04 – The doll boxes display Minaj’s various personas, aptly labeled, before unleashing into Roman for “Roman’s Revenge” and then her part on “Monster”. The energy was unstoppable. She should have done bars from other songs, too. Throwing “My Chick Bad” would be cool.
11:11 – Interlude over the Billie Eilish “When the Party’s Over” samples in “Are You Gone Already”, into “Falling 4 U”. It is always admirable how Minaj goes from melodic soul singing to hardcore diss tracks.
11:20 – The sequence continues with soulful tracks “Right Thru Me” and “Save Me”, which included a plea of “Minnesota, save me”. Minaj offers thoughtful muses about seeking a love journey and the worth of heartbreak before again descending into the stage.
11:26 – So instead of opening, Monica now enters the stage. Many fans sway arms along to “U Should’ve Known Better”. While it’s unorthodox having the “undercard” close the show, Monica’s set meshes better with where Minaj left off, instead of following the hype DJ opening.
11:31 – “Before You Walk out of My Life” keeps the R&B vibe going. It feels smooth and chill, yet I know Minaj is shortly going to enter talking about snakes and butts and space ships.
11:38 – “Angel of Mine”, Monica’s cover of the Eternal hit…have not heard that in decades. Monica descends below the stage on notes of gratitude without any real salutation. But heart hands, nonetheless. Would have been cool to duet “The Boy is Mine” with Minaj, though.
11:43 – Futuristic tram car now on stage. Pretty cool hearing Rick James in “Super Freaky Girl”. The car went from pink to green and “Anaconda”. All songs were abridged, which feels like just enough length. Not saying Minaj is lip singing, but at times she leans on the backing vocal tracks.
11:49 – Minaj walks along the thrust stage sincerely thanking and appreciating all the fans. It is the loudest moment of the show as the crowd cheer in response. Minaj and dancers throw more shirts into the crowd which incites near mosh pit level chaos scrambles.
11:52 – BOOM BADOOM BOOM BOOM “Superbass” is played to near, if not absolute entirety, and fans are in full dance mode.
11:55 – Minaj again displays her philosophical side as she asks the crowd to be in the moment, and go “super hard into your dreams and goals”. This leads into a shortened version of “The Night is Still Young”. Minaj gives the mic to a few concertgoers to sing, and she jokingly pretends to not be impressed. Also, points for irony of that song choice since it is now after midnight.
12:01 – Drops the sweet sentiment for harder bars on “Moment for Life”, but overall a very celebratory moment with her dancers. Just happy, grateful, and playing to the crowd.
12:03 – While claiming she “doesn’t do it anymore”, Minaj continues her singing of biggest hits into “Starships”. Having a hard time believing we are that special. And one of her biggest hits is not on other setlists. Regardless, the crowd is incredibly pumped.
12:06 – Closes with “Everybody”, which I like because the Junior Senior song she samples is cool. And an end to the latest I have been out for a concert in a long time.
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