Current:Home > NewsNicki Minaj delivers spectacle backed up by skill on biggest tour of her career: Review-LoTradeCoin
Nicki Minaj delivers spectacle backed up by skill on biggest tour of her career: Review
View Date:2024-12-23 19:44:14
WASHINGTON – As one of the most celebrated, successful rappers and engaging personalities, Nicki Minaj could slouch her way through her Pink Friday 2 tour and fans would still slather her with praise.
After all, they don’t seem to mind the continued late starts – 10:20 p.m. at Monday’s Capital One Arena in D.C., more than two hours past the ticketed promise but in line with her timing so far on tour – prefaced by an interminable DJ set.
But Minaj, who kicked off her 30-date world outing March 1 and has produced a string of arena sell-outs since, is undiminished in her vitality and spunkiness.
From the moment she rose from underneath the stage floor, draped in white from the waist down and sporting a metallic top for the confident tone-setter “I’m the Best,” Minaj, 41, oozed coolness.
More:Nicki Minaj Pink Friday 2 tour: See the setlist for her career-spanning concert
Gag City is Nicki Minaj’s Oz
For her first U.S. run in eight years, Minaj has crafted her most grandiose production: a slick, vibrant beauty of staircases, tiers, towering video panels and a lengthy catwalk to allow her plenty of room to strut.
It’s a Nicki-fied Oz, a neon playground on which she and her dancers could exact the rhythms of new tracks such as “FTCU,” “Barbie Dangerous” and “Cowgirl” with style.
The fictionalized Gag City – an idea created by fans using artificial intelligence for the arrival of last year’s “Pink Friday 2” album – was brought to reality in the form of a cityscape outlined in fuchsia for some songs and black and red for others.
During the alluring Asian-themed segment offering “Chun-Li” and the percussive “Ruby Red da Sleeze,” Minaj ducked into a phone booth for a quick change – a la Clark Kent – from her hooded robe to a long, pink wig (one of many she would sport throughout the night).
Nicki Minaj loves to play with fans
Minaj is endlessly entertaining to watch. She might drop into a marionette pose in “Win Again” or grind against the stage floor and literally engage in the lyrics of “Feeling Myself.”
Her gift is to go from spitting daggers to turning coquettish and she says as much with her alluring eyes as her pointed lyrics, which her fans devour.
Those devotees – affectionately dubbed “The Barbz” – turned the arena into a sea of salmon-colored fashion, from cowgirl hats to crop tops, boots to glittery shorts.
But more than their visuals, the crowd clearly worshipped Minaj’s every movement, especially her stings that landed with a smile.
Late in the show, Minaj handed her microphone to several audience members to sing the refrain of “The Night is Still Young.” She jokingly scolded their off-key renditions with typical side eye, but broke into spontaneous gyrations and a grin when one fan instead sang, “Nicki is still young!”
Before that inspirational anthem, Minaj addressed the crowd with her usual candor.
“People want money and they want cars and they want houses … and they ain’t got no peace. So what does it mean? I’d rather peace in the projects building. ‘Cause when you’ve got peace, you can think. And when you can think, you can prosper,” she told the cheering throng.
More:Beyoncé's 'Cowboy Carter' is a little bit country and a whole lot more: Review
Nicki Minaj’s concert guests are great, but slow momentum
A handful of songs into her set, Minaj rolled into “Beep Beep,” a heaping serving of drums, pyro and 50 Cent.
The superstar rapper strolled out in a white baseball cap, jeans and a sparkly blue jacket to match Minaj’s outfit of the moment for the song – featured on the deluxe version of “Pink Friday 2” – before taking over the stage during a Minaj costume change.
His smile gleaming and his spirit apparently soaring, 50 Cent steered the crowd through singalongs of several hits including “What Up Gangsta,” “P.I.M.P.” and the inevitable “In Da Club.”
His presence was certainly welcome, but, like the mid-set performance from Monica and the too-long artsy videos that segued each thematic act, it impaired the momentum of the show.
It’s gracious of Minaj to cede the spotlight to Monica for a deserved platform than mere opening act, and she indeed sounded flawless on “So Gone” and “Before You Walk Out of My Life” and looked luminous in her floor-length pink coat.
But while her set didn’t siphon attention from Minaj, it did incur a tonal shift.
Still, Minaj is the Queen of Rap for a reason, and she soon reclaimed the stage with her unbridled sass.
veryGood! (177)
Related
- Unexpected pairing: New documentary tells a heartwarming story between Vietnam enemies
- Yes, dietary choices can contribute to diabetes risk: What foods to avoid
- North Carolina officer who repeatedly struck woman during arrest gets 40-hour suspension
- Analysis: It’s uncertain if push to ‘Stop Cop City’ got enough valid signers for Atlanta referendum
- Suspect arrested after deadly Tuskegee University homecoming shooting
- How rich is Harvard? It's bigger than the economies of 120 nations.
- Adam Driver and Wife Joanne Tucker Privately Welcome New Baby
- Missouri county to pay $1.2 million to settle lawsuit over inmate restraint chair death
- Celtics' Jaylen Brown calls Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo a 'child' over fake handshake
- USWNT received greatest amount of online abuse during 2023 World Cup, per FIFA report
Ranking
- Judith Jamison, acclaimed Alvin Ailey American dancer and director, dead at 81
- Biden's fundraisers bring protests, a few celebrities, and anxiety for 2024 election
- Parent and consumer groups warn against 'naughty tech toys'
- Are the products in your shopping cart real?
- Texas’ 90,000 DACA recipients can sign up for Affordable Care Act coverage — for now
- 13 cold, stunned sea turtles from New England given holiday names as they rehab in Florida
- The pope says he wants to be buried in the Rome basilica, not in the Vatican
- Man arrested in Washington state after detective made false statements gets $225,000 settlement
Recommendation
-
Denzel Washington teases retirement — and a role in 'Black Panther 3'
-
Guy Fieri talks Super Bowl party, his son's 'quick engagement' and Bobby Flay's texts
-
'Vanderpump Rules' Season 11: Premiere date, trailer, cast, how to watch new season
-
Zara says it regrets ad that critics said resembled images from Gaza
-
How Jersey Shore's Sammi Sweetheart Giancola's Fiancé Justin May Supports Her on IVF Journey
-
Former Iowa deputy pleads guilty in hot-vehicle death of police dog
-
Two indicted in Maine cold case killing solved after 15 years, police say
-
Attacks on health care are on track to hit a record high in 2023. Can it be stopped?