Fans deserved more at Nicki Minaj show
Nicki Minaj arrived late to her Dublin show and finished after under an hour performing.
Having previously cancelled an Irish show hours before it was due to start, on Saturday last, Nicki arrived two hours late for her show and performed a severely curtailed set that was dominated by costume changes and lip syncing.
Many of her fans, who travelled long distances, expressed their disgust with having waited for hours in the rain for such an anti-climatic show, but it’s not the first time American artists have treated us so poorly here.
From the earliest days when hip-hop artists used to travel to Europe, there’s been mixed reports about some of the performance levels. I remember in the early 90s, there was a big debate from UK hip-hop fans about some of the short sets that Americans would perform over there.
I think some of this was a cultural situation, as back home, many of the rappers were more used to performing in bigger line-ups with small PA performances that mainly encompassed their hits of the day. And on the other hand, there were acts who gave it all and always blew people away.
Public Enemy were notably amazing live, and I saw Gang Starr, Beastie Boys and A Tribe Called Quest in their heyday in the mid 90s.
Out of these shows, Gang Starr was the only one I saw in Ireland, but Public Enemy, Cypress Hill, House of Pain and others played here during that era, and always met with a positive response. I also saw the Fugees at their peak in 1996 and they were incredible. The 2000s was a decade when much more of the best rap acts played in Ireland, and thanks to venues such as the Savoy, many of them came to Cork. I hosted my Jam night there for many years and we were visited by the likes of Public Enemy, Gil Scott Heron, De La Soul, Roy Ayers, Grandmaster Flash, Run DMC and Jazzy Jeff, to name but a few.
I was also DJing there for the legendary Wu Tang Clan, who provided a good example of how sometimes Americans don’t take the Irish audience seriously. The Wu Tang arrived late, had one of their road crew do the soundcheck, and then complained that the sound was crap. Method Man was on fire that night and he saved the show from being a shambles.
They were nice guys and still rocked the joint, but I’ve often felt that some visitors to Ireland don’t treat us with the same respect as they would treat audiences at home.
As both a DJ and promoter of shows, I’ve seen multiple acts turn up late, be rude and be unprofessional. A famous rapper who I will not mention by name refused to travel from his Dublin show by air and was about two hours late to the stage, while others, such as 50 Cent, just went through the motions in Cork. On the plus side, legends such as Kanye, Kid Cudi, Jay Z, Snoop, De La Soul, Jazzy Jeff and many more, were super professional and delivered the goods in a big way.
I feel that sometimes, since we are not a well established market such as London or Paris, some artists can be a big slack over here. Nearly every hip-hop artist I’ve dealt with was blown away by the Irish crowd and were surprised at the musical knowledge.
Maybe they had preconceptions beforehand and just felt they could go through the motions here? I’m not sure. But let’s get back to Nicki. Her fans are some of the most passionate around and represent all that’s good and sometimes bad about stan culture.
These days some artists have obsessive online fanbases who will attempt to challenge anything that’s said about their favourite star. Thus, we had a situation where many fans defended the shambles that was her Dublin show, but some of them also understandably made the best of a bad situation.
Ultimately, the promoters and the venue and the fans did everything to make it a great night, but sometimes the artist simply doesn’t respect the situation.
The truly great ones will do their best every time, and that’s how they ensure longevity forever.
