Achi news desk-
Flight mishaps happen to the best of us, but there aren’t usually 20,000 fans waiting at bell center for the person on the plane.
A track cut and customs were to blame for Nicki Minaj taking the stage late in Montreal on Wednesday night, said the 41-year-old rapper originally from St. James, Trinidad and Tobago.
As fans waited past 11pm for Minaj, whose show was due to start at 8.30pm, she posted on social media that her flight around 1pm had been delayed until 5pm, then when her team got on the plane, they said it would be delayed further .
“When we got on the plane, then they said they were ‘still fueling up,'” Minaj wrote on X.
Minaj would have probably hit the stage around 9:30pm as there were opening acts starting at 8:45pm
When she arrived in Montreal, Minaj said the delays continued at customs after she landed, and that “they did a lot of things that they didn’t do the last 2 times I came.”
“They started searching my personal wallets,” she wrote. “Normally, they take me to the car with my purses and check the larger suitcases. No. Not this time. They know I have a show, they know we’re 20 minutes away. They know we don’t have a police escort.”
As her fans waited in their seats after 11 p.m., Minaj posted to her “barbaz” (fans) that she “can’t wait to see you.”
“The sabotage will be real but God is more real,” she said. “We’re going to have a magical night. Love you. Sorry. I’m going to get to the bottom of it when I get off the stage.”
She walked on stage just before 11:30pm and finished after 1am
This is the second time in recent months that a major show at the bell center starts late. Madonna took the stage around 22:00 for a show that was supposed to start at 20:30. Fans in New York are suing the singer for being late to the show there.
Montreal fans seem to have been forgiving of Minaj’s tardiness.
“It was a blast! Worth the wait,” said Kristina Caitlin Glenn, who went to the show with her sister.
“Wow and they tried to stop this awesome wshow from happening!!!” wrote one fan who attended the show. “But God had other plans!!!”
