Minaj blamed delays in her flight to Montreal, which meant she only took to the stage at 11:23 p.m.
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There’s late and then there’s late.
Nicki Minaj strutted on stage at the Bell Centre at 11:23 p.m. Wednesday night, nearly three hours past her scheduled start time, and almost a half-hour after the Bell Centre’s 11 p.m. curfew.
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Some of you may recall the fuss made over Madonna’s tardiness on her Celebration tour, which passed through the Bell Centre in January. The star came out just before 10 p.m. here, which was early for her — she emerged after 10 in Toronto, and past 10:30 in New York and other cities, with some fans suing her as a result. (Really, people?) Madonna’s got nothing on Nicki.
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I would give you a first-hand account of how it went down Wednesday night, but Minaj’s team refused all media ticket requests.
Audra Bowen was in the crowd of 15,000 at the Bell Centre. The 14-year-old and her friend Willa stuck it out till show’s end, around 1:05 a.m. They kept their parents in the loop via text, and were picked up after. Audra got to bed at 2 a.m. — on a school night, no less.
Luckily, her mom let her sleep through first period Thursday morning. Interviewed as she was being driven to school, Audra revisited her late night with Minaj.
“On Ticketmaster, it said it was supposed to start at 8:30,” she recalled. “Around 8:45, a DJ came on and started playing music for a solid 50 minutes. Then the opening act went until 10. From 10 to 11:20, we just sat there.”
As she and Willa waited in their seats, Audra started feeling anxious. She had paid half the ticket price from her own pocket; her parents covered the rest.
“I was questioning whether she would even show up,” Audra said.
Shortly after 11 p.m. a buzz went through the crowd as Minaj tweeted a lengthy explanation, assuring fans she was on her way.
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“Today, we asked if (the plane) could leave at 1 p.m.,” she tweeted. “They said no, we could leave at 3 p.m. Then they said that won’t work, we’d need to leave at 5 p.m. ?!?!!!!! Yup. For a 9:30 p.m. show in Canada. When we got to the plane, they then said they were ‘STILL FUELING.’ At 6:30 p.m., they said they were ‘still fueling’ (for an hour and a half flight).”
Minaj also complained about overzealous customs agents when she landed in Montreal — an issue that has plagued rappers since the genre’s golden age back in the ‘90s.
“They started searching through my personal purses,” Minaj said. “Usually they take me to the car with my purses and check the bigger luggage. Nope. Not this time.
“They know I have a show, they know we’re 20 mins away. They know we don’t have a police escort.
“The sabotage be real but GOD IS REALER.
“I’LL BE ON STAGE IN 15 MINS.”
Minaj apologized and promised her “Barbz,” i.e. fans, a “magical night.”
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In the end, the rap queen came through, according to Audra, who was attending her second concert ever after taking in Olivia Rodrigo’s sold-out Bell Centre show last month.
“(Minaj) had great visuals,” Audra opined, with a slight rasp as she and Willa had been “screaming our voices off.”
Asked about Minaj’s performance, Audra paused.
“I don’t even know how to describe it. She was moving around, with great choreography. There were lots of lights and lasers pointing everywhere. She was very energetic, getting very excited and hyped up with the crowd. She had four amazing costume changes. The sound was incredible.
“I would have been way more disappointed (about the late start) if it had been a bad show, but I’m thankful. Better late than never.”
tdunlevy@postmedia.com
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