Pink Friday Tour

Pink Friday Tour

Tour by Nicki Minaj
Promotional poster for tour
Associated album	Pink Friday
Start date	May 16, 2012 (2012-05-16)
End date	August 14, 2012 (2012-08-14)
Legs	6
No. of shows	22 in North America 15 in Europe 4 in Asia 3 in Oceania 44 in total
Nicki Minaj concert chronology

The Pink Friday Tour is the debut concert tour by singer/songwriter Nicki Minaj. The tour is to promote her second album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded. The tour began in May 2012 with shows in Australia and Asia. The tour then continued on to Europe and North America in June, July, and August 2012. The tour came to a close on August 14, 2012 in New York City at the Roseland Ballroom. The final show was a part of a free Pepsi promotional concert. Attendees were only eligible for tickets if they called radio stations Hot 97, Power 105, Z-100, 92.3 Now, and WBLI or tweet Nicki Minaj or Pepsi on Twitter. After playing 41 shows on 4 continents, Minaj quickly followed up the tour with the Pink Friday: Reloaded Tour. The tour grossed $20 million.

Background and development

While promoting her second album in the UK, Minaj revealed tour dates for major cities in England. The singer officially announced the tour via Twitter on May 1, 2012—showcasing the stage resembling Barbie's Dreamhouse. Minaj stated that she will play radio and outdoor festivals in conduction with arenas and theatres. She also mentions the tour will have an "intimate yet big" feel. Laurieann Gibson will serve as creative director and choreographer for the tour. Gibson stated "Nicki Minaj was so much fun for me, and it was like a real breath of fresh air, and musically, to get back to the rap game, to see a female MC dominate the pop charts, this, historically, for me, I feel a bit of responsibility", in a MTV interview.

Concert synopsis

The concert is divided into five acts, they all incorporate Minaj's hip-hop, pop, rap, and R&B styles of music. An interlude kicks-off the show with Minaj's voice explaining that her alter ego "Roman", warrior of "Pinkslam", must travel for 40 days, and 40 nights, to planet Earth to defeat an evil force known as "Nemesis". Minaj begins the concert in a black cloak, singing the fiery-bar spitting song "Roman's Revenge" or the fast-paced "Roman Holiday" while standing on top of the stage with a church themed backdrop. The dancers are also dressed in black cloaks. After the first chorus, Minaj takes off the cloak and reveals a new outfit which consists of pink and black polka dot high rise panties, and a yellow and black polka dot jacket, or a graffiti themed jacket, paired with leggings underneath. The dancers also appear in different attire after their cloaks are removed. She then burst out into her hip-hop segment starting off with "Did it on 'Em" followed by her verses in "I Am Your Leader" continued with "Beez in the Trap" and then on to a snippet of "Stupid Hoe" before rolling into her verse in Big Sean's "Dance (A$$)".

After a brief pause Minaj continues the show with a new segment starting with "Right by My Side" that flows into "Champion" and concludes the segment with "Moment 4 Life" while wearing the same attire as last segment. The medley's backdrop consisted of a sky themed backdrop. After finishing the medley Minaj heads backstage to change outfits while the DJ plays an interlude leading up to the next segment.

After the interlude ends Minaj returns to the stage wearing a white vest, white leggings, and a white tutu accompanied with white high heels. Minaj's dancers have also changed into gold attire. Minaj then takes a splatter-painted gun and sprays the crowd with white fog. After Minaj sets the gun down she returns to her group of female dancers before jumping into "Starships" which starts the pop segment of the concert. To go along with "Starships" the backdrop was inside of a "Starship". After "Starships", she then sings "Pound the Alarm". Next, Minaj walks around the stage slapping her dancer's butts before heading into "Whip It". Minaj then dives into her verses in David Guetta's dance anthem "Where Them Girls At". Then Minaj performs "Turn Me On". Minaj then walks off stage for a second time for another outfit change.

At the end of the interlude Nicki emerges from backstage with a pink dress on and also changed her wig to a short blond wig with pink accents. She then talks about how she got her heart broken and wanted to literally kill someone. She followed that statement with saying "But instead I wrote a song." which lead into "Fire Burns" with an Autumn themed background. She followed the song by then performing "Save Me" with Barbie's house as a backdrop. After "Save Me" she left the stage which ended her softer, more emotional segment of the show. Another DJ interlude played while she made her final costume change of the concert.

For the last segment Minaj is dressed with graffiti leggings, a striped shirt, black panties, with a pink hat and some necklaces. She had also changed her wig to solid black with bangs. The background for this segment is a basic speaker system. She then performs a mixtape medley which consisted of songs such as "Go Hard", "Sweet Dreams", "Slumber Party", "Beam Me Up Scotty", "Freaky Gurl", "I Get Crazy", and "Itty Bitty Piggy" from her mixtapes. In the European leg of the tour Minaj also performed "Itty Bitty Piggy" in the medley. Minaj then performs "Come On A Cone" before the final medley. The final medley consisted of songs such as "Up All Night", "Make Me Proud", "My Chick Bad", "Bottoms Up", "Monster", "Letting Go (Dutty Love)", "Hold Yuh", "BedRock", "Roman Reloaded", and "Roman in Moscow". Following the final medley Minaj states "Is there a song you haven't heard yet?", which leads right into "Super Bass". Minaj finishes "Super Bass" at the top of the stage with white fog shooting in the air along each staircase before saying "Thank you and goodnight!" which leads to an encore chorus before Nicki and her dancers exit the stage.

Critical response

The tour received generally positive reviews from music critics. Kicking off the tour in Australia, music critics gave the performances extremely positive reviews. Kathy McCabe (The Daily Telegraph) writes that Minaj was "colorful" during the tour's debut at the Horden Pavilion. She continues, "Minaj graciously brought her arena show to town with its awesome backdrop of videos, those ripped dancers, a song list of hits, her graciousness and potty mouth, and smashed it all together into a one hour show. A lot of smoke and mirrors but all of it rather delectable. Except for the poor mums". Hannah Kimber (news.com.au) states Minaj's show in Sydney was an array of "deep beats, technicolour lighting and Disney inspired ensembles". She further states, "It was a night of tiny tasty Nicki treats all mashed into a mini musical feast with tight choreography and lots to look at. But 65 minutes was not long enough for a full Nicki fix and the rabid Barbz in Sydney craved more Minaj". At the Hisense Arena, Tran Nguyen (Take 40 Australia) humorously gave the show eight out of ten weaves. He says, "it was her performance of "Starships" that drove the fans completely wild. The ground shook harder, and more arms were flailing about (and blocking my view—although, my lack of height may have something to with that). Fans were jumping up and down, and occasionally busting a move or two". The concert at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre was given two and a half out of five stars by Bridie Jabour (Brisbane Times). She says, ""Nicki did the obligatory good night and I love you and left the stage. And then something happened that I have not witnessed at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre or even the Tivoli. Everyone just left. There were no screams for an encore, no chanting of her name, no pleading for her to return and do just one more song. Nicki had finished her show and her fans were more than ready for it to be finished".

Alexis Petridis from The Guardian attended the show at the HMV Hammersmith Apollo in London, he gave the Pink Friday Tour an average score with 3 out of 5 stars, saying "It seems a strange thing to say about a performance that opens with a woman rapping "I'm a bad bitch, I'm a cunt", but there's something oddly restrained about Nicki Minaj's live show. Then Petridis later commented on how moderate the show was in comparison to her exorcism-themed performance at the 54th Grammy Awards, "Given this is a woman who staged a mock exorcism on stage at the Grammys, before being hoisted into the air on wires while singing O Come All Ye Faithful, it's a relatively stripped-down show, which cleaves more to hip-hop tradition than pop extravaganza. There are costume changes and a confetti cannon, but there's no band, just a small troupe of dancers, a DJ and a hype man". Jon Carmanica of the NYTimes, gave the tour a positive review speaking on her ability to reach pop and hip-hop audiences, "Unlike almost any other rapper, she manages to exist on pop radio and hip-hop radio simultaneously (generally with different songs), and she's equally comfortable in both spaces."

Opening acts

• Stooshe (UK)
• Timomatic (Melbourne, Sydney)
• Stan Walker (Brisbane)
• 2 Chainz (North America)

Setlist

Oceania

1. "Roman Holiday"
2. "Did It on 'Em"
3. "I Am Your Leader"
4. "Beez in the Trap"
5. "Stupid Hoe"
6. "Dance (A$$)"
7. "Right by My Side"
8. "Moment 4 Life"
9. "Champion"
10. "Starships"
11. "Pound the Alarm"
12. "Whip It"
13. "Fire Burns"
14. "Save Me"
15. "Bottoms Up"
16. "Where Them Girls At"
17. "Turn Me On"
18. "Super Bass"

Asia

1. "Roman Holiday"
2. "Did It on 'Em"
3. "I Am Your Leader"
4. "Beez in the Trap"
5. "Stupid Hoe"
6. "Dance (A$$)"
7. "Right by My Side"
8. "Champion
9. "Moment 4 Life"
10. "Starships"
11. "Pound the Alarm"
12. "Whip It"
13. "Where Them Girls At"
14. "Fire Burns"
15. "Save Me"
16. "Roman's Revenge"
17. "Bottoms Up"
18. "Turn Me On"
19. "Super Bass"

Europe

1. "Roman's Revenge"
2. "Did It on 'Em"
3. "I Am Your Leader"
4. "Beez in the Trap"
5. "Stupid Hoe"
6. "Dance (A$$)"
7. "Right by My Side"
8. "Moment 4 Life"
9. "Starships"
10. "Pound the Alarm"
11. "Whip It"
12. "Where Them Girls At"
13. "Turn Me On"
14. "Fire Burns"
15. "Save Me"
16. "Itty Bitty Piggy"
17. "Roman Reloaded"
18. "HOV Lane"
19. "Come On A Cone"
20. "Letting Go (Dutty Love)"
21. "Make Me Proud"
22. "Monster"
23. "Up All Night"
24. "My Chick Bad"
25. "Hold Yuh"
26. "Bottoms Up"
27. "BedRock"
28. "Super Bass"

Philippines

1. "Roman's Revenge"
2. "Did It on 'Em"
3. "I Am Your Leader"
4. "Beez in the Trap"
5. "Stupid Hoe"
6. "Dance (A$$)"
7. "Right by My Side"
8. "Moment 4 Life"
9. "Starships"
10. "Pound the Alarm"
11. "Whip It"
12. "Turn Me On"
13. "Where Them Girls At"
14. "Fire Burns"
15. "Save Me"
16. Medley
17. "Up All Night"
18. "My Chick Bad"
19. "Bottoms Up"
20. "Hold Yuh"
21. "BedRock"
22. "Super Bass"

United States of America

1. "Roman's Revenge"
2. "Did It on 'Em"
3. "I Am Your Leader"
4. "Beez in the Trap"
5. "Stupid Hoe"
6. "Dance (A$$)"
7. "Right by My Side"
8. "Moment 4 Life"
9. "Starships"
10. "Pound the Alarm"
11. "Whip It" / "Turn Me On" (2 song medley)
12. "Where Them Girls At"
13. "Fire Burns"
14. "Save Me"
15. "Go Hard"
16. "Sweet Dreams"
17. "Slumber Party"
18. "Beam Me Up Scotty"
19. "I Get Crazy"
20. "Itty Bitty Piggy"
21. "Come On A Cone"
22. "Up All Night"
23. "Make Me Proud"
24. "My Chick Bad"
25. "Bottoms Up"
26. "Monster"
27. "Freaky Gurl"
28. "Letting Go (Dutty Love)"
29. "Hold Yuh"
30. "BedRock"
31. "Roman Reloaded"
32. "Roman in Moscow"
33. "Super Bass"

Canada

1. "Roman's Revenge"
2. "Did It on 'Em"
3. "I Am Your Leader"
4. "Beez in the Trap"
5. "Stupid Hoe"
6. "Dance (A$$)"
7. "Right by My Side"
8. "Moment 4 Life"
9. "Starships"
10. "Pound the Alarm"
11. "Whip It"
12. "Where Them Girls At"
13. "Fire Burns"
14. "Save Me"
15. "Itty Bitty Piggy" / "I Get Crazy" / "Roger That" (3 song medley)
16. "Come On A Cone"
17. "Up All Night"
18. "Make Me Proud"
19. "My Chick Bad"
20. "Bottoms Up"
21. "Letting Go (Dutty Love)"
22. "BedRock"
23. "Roman in Moscow"
24. "Super Bass"

Pepsi Promotional Show

1. "Roman's Revenge"
2. "Did It on 'Em"
3. "I Am Your Leader" (with Cam'ron)
4. "Touch It Or Not" (with Cam'ron)
5. "Beez in the Trap"
6. "Stupid Hoe"
7. "I Luv Dem Strippers" / "Dance (A$$)" (2 song medley)
8. "Right by My Side"
9. "Moment 4 Life"
10. "Starships"
11. "Pound the Alarm"
12. "Whip It"
13. "Turn Me On"
14. "Fire Burns"
15. "Save Me"
16. "Itty Bitty Piggy"
17. "Go Hard"
18. "Sweet Dreams"
19. "Can't Stop, Won't Stop"
20. "I Get Crazy"
21. "Roman In Moscow"
22. "Born Stunna" / "Roger That"
23. "Come On A Cone"
24. "Letting Go (Dutty Love)"
25. "Hold Yuh"
26. "My Chick Bad"
27. "Bottoms Up"
28. "5 Star Chick"
29. "Freaky Girl"
30. "Slumber Party"
31. "Out of My Mind"
32. "BK Anthem"
33. "Oh Yeah" (with Foxy Brown)
34. "Tables Will Turn" (with Foxy Brown)
35. "Up All Night" (with Drake)
36. "Make Me Proud" (with Drake)
37. "Take It to the Head" (with Lil Wayne)
38. "The Motto" (with Drake and Lil Wayne)
39. "Roman Reloaded"
40. "Super Bass"

Tour dates

Date	City	Country	Venue
Oceania
May 16, 2012	Sydney	Australia	Hordern Pavilion
May 18, 2012	Melbourne		Hisense Arena
May 19, 2012	Brisbane		Brisbane Entertainment Centre
Asia
May 22, 2012	Osaka	Japan	Namba Hatch
May 23, 2012	Tokyo		Zepp Tokyo
May 25, 2012	Yokohama		Yokohama Bay Hall
North America
June 1, 2012 [A]	Camden	United States	Susquehanna Bank Center
June 2, 2012 [B]	Mansfield		Xfinity Center
Europe
June 8, 2012	Stockholm	Sweden	Annexet
June 9, 2012	Oslo	Norway	Oslo Spektrum
June 11, 2012	Copenhagen	Denmark	Falkoner Teatret
June 13, 2012	Brussels	Belgium	Ancienne Belgique
June 16, 2012	Berlin	Germany	Tempodrom
June 18, 2012	Amsterdam	Netherlands	Heineken Music Hall
June 21, 2012	Milan	Italy	Discoteca Alcatraz
June 23, 2012[C]	London	England	Hackney Marshes
June 24, 2012			HMV Hammersmith Apollo
June 25, 2012
June 26, 2012	Birmingham		National Indoor Arena
June 28, 2012	Manchester		O2 Apollo Manchester
July 6, 2012	Paris	France	Zénith de Paris
July 7, 2012[D]	London	England	Hyde Park
July 8, 2012[E]	Kinross	Scotland	Balado Airfield
Asia
July 11, 2012	Manila	Philippines	Mall of Asia Arena
North America
July 16, 2012	Chicago	United States	Chicago Theatre
July 17, 2012	Detroit		Fox Theatre
July 18, 2012	Saint Paul		State Theater
July 19, 2012	Cleveland		State Theatre
July 21, 2012	Washington, D.C.		DAR Constitution Hall
July 22, 2012	Atlanta		Fox Theatre
July 24, 2012	Miami		James L. Knight Center
July 26, 2012	Birmingham		Boutwell Memorial Auditorium
July 27, 2012	New Orleans		Lakefront Arena
July 28, 2012	Houston		Bayou Music Center
July 29, 2012	Grand Prairie		Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie
July 31, 2012	St. Louis		Peabody Opera House
August 2, 2012	Denver		Wells Fargo Theatre
August 4, 2012	Las Vegas		Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino
August 7, 2012	Phoenix		Comerica Theatre
August 8, 2012	Los Angeles		Nokia Theatre L.A. Live
August 9, 2012	Oakland		Paramount Theatre
August 11, 2012	Seattle	Paramount Theatre
August 12, 2012	Vancouver	Canada	Queen Elizabeth Theatre
August 14, 2012[F]	New York City	United States	Roseland Ballroom

Notes

^A This concert is part of Wired 96.5 Fest.

^B This concert is part of JAM'N 94.5 Presents: Summer Jam 2012.

^C This concert is part of Radio 1's Hackney Weekend.

^D This concert is a part of the Barclaycard Wireless Festival.

^E This concert is a part of T in the Park.

^F This concert is a part of a free, Pepsi promotional concert, Attendees were only eligible for a chance to win tickets if you called on radio stations Hot 97, Power 105, Z-100, 92.3 Now, and WBLI or tweet Nicki Minaj or Pepsi on Twitter.

Cancellations and rescheduled shows

July 4, 2012	Dublin, Ireland	Olympia Theatre	Rescheduled to August 21, 2012
August 5, 2012	Los Angeles	Nokia Theatre L.A. Live	Rescheduled to August 8, 2012
August 18, 2012	Weston-Under-Lizard	Weston Park – V Festival	Cancelled due to strained vocal chords.
August 19, 2012	Chelmsford	Hylands Park – V Festival	Cancelled due to strained vocal chords.
August 21, 2012	Dublin	Olympia Theatre	Cancelled due to strained vocal chords.

Box office score data

Venue	City	Tickets sold / available	Gross revenue
Hordern Pavilion	Sydney	5,377 / 5,377 (100%)	$490,692
Chicago Theatre	Chicago	3,521 / 3,521 (100%)	$229,938
Fox Theatre	Atlanta	4,357 / 4,545 (96%)	$282,785
Nokia Theatre L.A. Live	Los Angeles	6,300 / 6,864 (91%)	$453,170
TOTAL		19,555 (96%)	$1,456,585 (only shows reported at the boxscore)

Notes

• "Slumber Party" was introduced to the setlist in Cleveland on July 19, 2012.
• Nicki Minaj performed "Roman in Moscow" for the first time in Washington, D.C. on July 21, 2012.
• On July 22, 2012 in Atlanta at the Fox Theatre, many surprise guests came out to perform alongside Minaj, including Young Jeezy, Monica, Bobby Valentino, Waka Flocka Flame, T.I, and Lil Scrappy.
• On July 24, 2012 in Miami, Lil Wayne, Birdman, and DJ Khaled were brought out to perform. Celebrity Angela Simmons was in attendance at this concert.
• On July 27, 2012 in New Orleans, Birdman presented Minaj with a Platinum plaque for her second studio album Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded.
• Rappers Bun B, Slim Thug, and Paul Wall were guests at Minaj's show in Houston on July 28, 2012.
• On August 8, 2012 in Los Angeles Tyga and Sean Kingston came out as surprise performers, also Natasha Bedingfield was in attendance at this concert.
• On August 14, 2012 in New York City, at Roseland Ballroom, Cam'ron, Foxy Brown, Drake, and Lil Wayne were brought out as surprise performers. This show was streamed live by Pepsi, and broadcast in Times Square. Celebrities Busta Rhymes and Russell Simmons were in attendance.

External links

• Minaj's Official website