A pair of surprise guest spots from Detroit rappers Big Sean and Sada Baby brightened Nicki Minaj’s sold-out concert at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday, an up-and-down affair that packed 15,000-plus Barbz — Minaj’s fans, most of whom came clad in pink shirts, skirts and/or boots — into the downtown arena.
It was the New York by way of Trinidad rapper’s first local concert in almost a decade, following a 2015 show at the then-DTE Energy Music Theatre, and she stuffed her set with a career’s worth of material, performing more than 30 songs in whole or in part over the course of the 2-hour, 20-minute show.
But the momentum of the evening sometimes flagged, especially during an extended period of unexplained downtime late in the set that lasted upwards of 10 minutes and was never addressed. It followed a late six-song performance by R&B singer Monica, which also came late in the night and should have been an opening set, which meant Minaj was off stage for around 30 minutes at what should have been the peak of the show.
Big Sean’s cameo came early in the set, after Minaj took the stage at just after 10 p.m. The pair joined forces on the remix to “Dance (Ass),” their 2011 pairing — “make some noise for Detroit’s finest, Big Sean!” Minaj said — and she then ceded the stage to Sean, who performed a small suite of his hits, including “Mercy,” “Blessings,” “Bounce Back” and “IDFWU.”
“One of the things I can say about Nicki is that she never switched up, she always kept it real, I mean that,” said Sean, who is scheduled to perform Thursday at the NFL Draft in Detroit. “There are many times in my career when she gave me a lot of great advice when she didn’t have to.”
The hometown parade continued when Sada Baby joined Minaj on stage for a run-through of their 2020 collaboration “Whole Lotta Choppas.” Sada playfully danced around the stage’s long catwalk, a backwards pair of ski goggles on his head, and the two embraced as he skipped off stage.
Elsewhere it was Minaj’s show, as she rattled off hits and cycled through outfits and personas in equal measure, always letting her inner star shine through. She’s a stunningly expressive performer, and large video screens on the three-tier stage captured her darting eyes, side glances and exaggerated facial expressions, which punctuated her lines on songs like opener “I’m the Best” and “Press Play.”
The set heavily favored December’s “Pink Friday 2,” Minaj’s fifth studio album, but dipped into all phases of her career, winding back to her breakout verse on Kanye West’s “Monster.” A set highlight came when she entered and exited a series of quick change booths, going from “Chun-Li” to “Red Ruby Da Sleaze” to “Barbie World,” sporting a different outfit for each, from a boxing robe to a kimono to a 1950s-style pink skirt and jacket combo. “Roman’s Revenge,” from 2010’s original “Pink Friday,” brought an ecstatic high, a reminder of her innate ability to infuse her songs with electricity and personality. She’s one of the most colorful characters hip-hop has ever seen, period.
“Fallin 4 U,” “Right Thru Me” and “Save Me” signaled another change in mood, more on the introspective end of Minaj’s spectrum. That then led to Monica’s set, which was positioned strangely in the run of the evening, signaling an abrupt shift in mood in the homestretch of the night. It was like slamming on the brakes in the middle of a straightaway.
Whether or not there was a technical error in the set was unclear, but the stage sat empty for a significant stretch of time following Monica’s set before Minaj and her dancers remerged for a high energy closer, which included the smashes “Super Bass” and “Starships,” which Minaj performed in a white top and gray Alexander Wang sweatpants.
She brought up three audience members to dance on stage and brought the show to a close at nearly 12:30 a.m., finishing off a night that reinforced her tremendous versatility as an artist, highlighted her catalog and left room to tighten things up before her next stop through town. Let’s just hope it’s not another nine years in between shows.
