Nicki Minaj’s Co-op Live Arena show postponed after Amsterdam arrest
Nicki Minaj’s Co-op Live Arena show has been postponed following her arrest in the Netherlands, the promoter has said.
Fans were let into the Manchester venue on Saturday evening despite the 41-year-old US singer and rapper being detained at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport.
However, the gig will be moved to a later date with a statement from Live Nation saying: “Despite Nicki’s best efforts to explore every possible avenue to make tonight’s show happen, the events of today have made it impossible.
“We are deeply disappointed by the inconvenience this has caused.”
Dutch police said a woman, 41, was arrested after allegedly trying to take soft drugs from Schiphol Airport to another country.
An update from the force at around 9pm stated that it had released the “suspect and she can now move on”.
Fans told the PA news agency that they were unsure if they would be able to make the rescheduled performance.
Frankie Harper, 20, from Andover, Hampshire, said: “(I’m) distraught to say the least. It definitely hurts more that it was on my birthday. Not sure what happens with the £100s that you spend on a train and hotel.”
Nord Herida, 23, who lives in Barnsley and travelled an hour to attend the concert, said he had felt before the postponement that his time was “being wasted” inside the arena.
He added that his friend had travelled four hours from Ipswich to get to the gig and that they had been waiting since 1pm at the arena.
“(I’m) pissed not (going to) lie, they have taken this long to tell us,” Mr Herida said.
“Like I work, I can’t just take a day off.”
Major Robert van Kapel, from the Royal Netherlands military police, told Sky News at around 9.15pm that the woman had been released around 20 minutes ago from the Royal Marshal’s Office at Schiphol Airport.
“I don’t know which plane she will take, which destination, of course, privacy. It’s not our concern,” he also said.
“But I can say that 20 minutes ago she’s left. So probably she’s on her way to her next destination.”
When asked if they knew the woman was a rap artist, he responded: “Of course, we never confirm the identity of people we have in custody, suspects.
“But we have seen, of course, social media, and the only thing we have to do is do a thorough investigation. And that’s what we did and there’s no reason to (have her) any longer in custody. She can go wherever she has to go.”
