Nicki Minaj Fans Left Disappointed After Concert Postponement
![Nicki Minaj](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/c00b/live/72233910-1af7-11ef-80aa-699d54c46324.jpg.webp)
Reuters
Nicki Minaj fans were left angry after the American rapper’s gig at Manchester’s Co-op Live arena was called off at the last minute, following her arrest at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport.
Minaj was arrested on suspicion of exporting soft drugs before being fined and allowed to continue her journey, Dutch police said.
However, she didn’t make it to Manchester in time for her concert on Saturday, which was postponed as about 20,000 fans were in the arena waiting for her to take the stage.
Fans were let into the arena at 19:00 BST, and were hopeful that the gig would go ahead right up until the announcement about the postponement, which came just after 21:30 BST – around the time she had been expected to come on stage.
There were some boos in the Manchester arena, before everyone filed out.
According to videos on social media and flight data, the plane thought to be transporting Minaj was still in Amsterdam when the Manchester show was postponed.
It is the latest problem to hit the new £450m arena, which has also been forced to postpone or move gigs by the likes of Olivia Rodrigo, Take That and Peter Kay in recent weeks after suffering a string of delays and technical problems.
Some fans laid the blame squarely with the superstar rapper.
Olivia Gibson, 21, from Newcastle, said she was now an “ex fan”, and Minaj has a track record of running late and should have allowed more time to travel.
Another ticket-holder, Anna, travelled from Poland with her boyfriend, and said they had spent about £1,000 on the trip in total.
Other die-hard fans refused to blame Minaj.
On social media, Minaj said she was in a jail cell for between five and six hours, and finally arrived at her hotel in Manchester around midnight.
She said she hoped to announce a rescheduled date on Sunday, promising an “added bonus” for those with a ticket.