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”.

In a message on X, formerly known as Twitter, the singer said she had arrived at her hotel in Manchester early on Sunday morning after spending “5-6 hours” in a cell and a delay to her flight from Amsterdam.

She wrote: “Thank you to everyone who prayed for me today. May God cover you & all that is connected to you. May you be blessed beyond your imagination. ”

Saying the venue was “willing to go past 11pm”, she pointed the finger at unidentified figures who she said had “succeeded at their plan to not let me get on that stage tonight” and that a new date for the show would be announced on Sunday.

“One July option & one June option is currently being discussed,” she tweeted. “I’ll find a way to not only make up the date with the performance but I’m going to create an added bonus for everyone that had a tkt for this show. Promise.”

Minaj said she would continue with her scheduled shows, including in Birmingham on Sunday and a second night at the Co-op Live Arena on Thursday.

In separate posts, she told fans she would be on her hotel balcony and thanked those who came along before asking them to be quiet at 2am.

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.”

Earlier in the day, Minaj livestreamed being arrested as well as claiming that police found drugs in her luggage after her items were checked by customs.

She wrote that “they found weed” and her security “already advised them” that items belong to them, and not her.

Co-op Live was plagued with issues before opening earlier this month.

The venue postponed its first official show several times after safety concerns, with the performer, US rapper A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, moving his gig to rival AO Arena over the delays.

However, the UK’s biggest arena has had live music from May 14, when British rock band Elbow took to the stage.

Trinidad-born Minaj, known for the songs Starships, Super Bass and Anaconda, recently featured on the Barbie soundtrack and was nominated for a Grammy.

Minaj and Ice Spice were mistakenly announced on X, formerly Twitter, as winners of best rap song at the 2024 Grammy Awards in February.

The mistake was quickly rectified following the Recording Academy offering its congratulations to the Super Bass singer and Ice Spice for their track Barbie World, which also features Aqua.

Minaj has been contacted for comment.