Nicki Minaj: The Nicki Wrld Tour – Concert Review

Nicki Minaj the Queen of rap finally went on tour again and this time it was my chance to see her live. I fell in love with Nicki Minaj in 2011 when I first saw her in the music video of Where Them Girls At, a legendary song by David Guetta. Since then I’m a big fan of her and it was a dream come true when I saw her live in Zurich last week on her THE NICKI WRLD TOUR.

I had bought three seat tickets the day when they were on sale last summer. I went to the concert with my twin sister Irem and our friend Vidusa, who even had to come with crutches to the concert since she had a knee operation. It was Wednesday, the 27^th of March and I had university by day and Nicki by night. The doors opened at 5.30 p.m., which is actually very early for a concert but they had strict security checks. We went late on purpose since we had seats. At 7 p.m. we were in front of Hallenstadion and we didn’t have to queue. During the security check, the security guard told me that our tickets were invalid. It was a shocking moment for me since we paid 120 CHF for each ticket. He told me to go to the box office and to change them. The problem was that our places were moved behind due to the fact that Nicki couldn’t sell out. Accordingly, she had to relocate the stage forward. I think the reason for her low selling numbers could have been her 2^nd show in Switzerland the next day in Geneva. Normally big stars like her come only to Zurich and their Swiss fans travel all around the country there to see her.

Support Acts

Her first support act was KT Gorique, a Swiss female rapper with ivory Coast roots. At 7.30 p.m. she went onstage and was supported by two male dancers and another male rapper. As a group, they were energetic and made the crowd warmed up. Because I heard their music for the first time, I couldn’t really enjoy their set. After 25 minutes of performance, they left the stage and we had a break for half an hour.

The next support act was the American male rapper Juice WRLD who was supported by the DJ MIKEP. I don’t listen to his music; therefore, I again couldn’t enjoy his time on stage too. During his performance all I could notice was that he used autotune almost on every song, it was annoying for me to listen to him. It’s probably his singing style. He did a number of his songs in shortened versions. He had creative and thematic visual animations on the big screen for every song, which were amusing. The DJ also interacted with him most of the time, so he created a familiar atmosphere. Juice WRLD’s stage appearance was dynamic, he was jumping around all the time. There was a one cute and lovely moment when he brought up his girlfriend onstage for a love song. Another mentionable highlight was when he went down to the crowd and interacted with them. His set lasted almost for 40 minutes. Afterward, we had another long break. We had to wait for 40 minutes until the rap Goddess our Queen Nicki Minaj appeared. These long breaks were a bit annoying because there weren’t any big stage transformations going on. But I mean it’s Nicki Minaj, right?

Nicki Minaj’s Performance

The Queen opened her show with her underrated song Majesty, which definitely deserves to be a single. She arrived on a gigantic unicorn with huge spread wings. Her dancers welcomed the Queen and they danced beside her throughout the night. She continued her first set with Hard White, and while Feeling Myself she was lying on a giant bed, which slid from right to left. As soon as she came down from the bed it started disappearing under the floor and the intro for her song Only was played. She really slayed and felt every word during this song. Unfortunately, she mostly sang one verse and one chorus of each song and continued directly with Truffle Butter.

Afterward, Nicki had her first speech and thanked us for coming. She introduced the next song with the words: “If you got somebody in your life that is jealous at you or mad that they can’t be like you. Put your mother*** numbers two in the air like this”. Then she rapped her rather two aggressive songs Did It It On’em and Beez In The Trap.  I could rap along during the chorus of Beez In The Trap because this song, in particular, helped me being confident in middle school. She continued this set with a medley of the songs FEFE and Monster. Next, she turned from the aggressive rapper to the romantic goddess when she presented one of her oldest hits Your Love, I love this song so much.

Later in her 2^nd speech, Nicki empowered us to stay in school and to get that degree, she also empowered women to know their own worth. She warned us for the next song and said: “What happens in Switzerland, stays in Switzerland!”. So, it was time for her best chart-topping single Anaconda. Nicki rapped the entire song and I couldn’t sit any longer on my seat. I stood up and was dancing singing like a crazy fan, who I definitely am. She left the stage for a costume change. Vidusha and I talked about which song she will do next. I was expecting her to come back with Swalla and my friend said Turn Me On would also be great and her wish came true. Nicki came back in a spaceship and the beat for Turn Me On was played back. This song evoked many memories in me since I love all her collaborations with David Gutta. That was also the reason why I wore his shirt to the concert.

Afterward for her most sexual song Whip It she looked for a young man in the audience and her dancers put him away to the spaceship. Then during her performance Nicki set him free and gave him a lap dance. The boy she had chosen was only 14 and had Albanian roots. I wondered if it was legal what she did to him considering his age. The boy was amazed and could hardly talk. Then he disappeared with the spaceship in the underground. Nicki kept partying with us with her bangers Pound The Alarm and Starships. A lot of jumping, twerking and crazy dancing was guaranteed in the audience. I can admit that this is a kind of party I live for. Her dancers continued entertaining with Where Them Girls At, while Nicki went again backstage for another costume change.

Now it was finally time for the ballads. I love all her ballads, she writes them very emotional, personal and inspiring. She came back in a beautiful long dress and had covered her face with a lace tulle fabric. She performed the songs All Things Go, Save Me and Grand Piano. A black female vocalist supported her, who actually almost stole the show from Nicki with her angel-like vocals. All of Nicki’s ballads have lyrical depth and are telling a story, that’s why I love them so much.

After that, there was a break during which the music video of Ganja Burn was played. I really enjoyed it because this song is my favorite track on her album Queen. For the next set, she reappeared on stage lying on a large round bed. Now you can guess which song she performed next. Of course, her last year’s summer hit single Bed featuring Ariana Grande. She turned the stage to a paradise with some waterfall and tropical rainforest visuals on the big screen. She also didn’t hold back her older collaboration with Ariana Grande and also presented a shortened version of Side to Side. We kept partying with her to the tacks Swalla and during Chun Li all the fans could rap the verses with her. Then it was time for her fan-favorite Moment 4 Life an old collaboration with the famous rapper Drake. The part of the stage where she was standing elevated during this song and it was a magical moment for everybody. My favorite quote of her is included in the first verse: “To live does not mean you’re alive”.

For the final song, she went backstage again for a quick costume change. Her song The Night Is Still Young was played back during this short break and my sister and I were still singing along. I knew she would come back to sing Super Bass, the hit single, which caused her international breakthrough. But Nicki managed to make this final part the highlight of the night. While she was rapping the song, a video clip was played behind her, which showed visuals of all her music videos. It felt like time travel and also like an exclusive throwback of her career. It made me a bit emotional since I literally spend almost half of my life loving and supporting her. We also experienced four times a shower of confetti at the end. Then she left the stage the way she came on her giant unicorn, probably flying to her next stop on her The Nicki Wrld Tour.

I’m really proud of her and I wish the media would also treat Nicki Minaj right and not that wrong since Cardi B is also playing the rap game. I respect Cardi B but let’s be honest she couldn’t do a setlist and a tour like Nicki Minaj. I know that this concert was a once in a lifetime experience and who knows when Nicki will go on tour again. She rarely comes to Europe. I mean I had to wait for 8 years. Therefore, I have nothing to criticize about her. Catch her on tour if you can, you will definitely not regret it. You can find many concert videos on my Instagram. Comment me your highlight of the concert if you have seen her on this tour. If you liked this blog post please share it on your social media thanks.