Anthony, West Coast Bureau: It was a balmy summer evening when my gurls and I headed down West Georgia Street to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. The home of Vancouver Opera and Ballet BC has hosted some unique performances over the years and on this night, we were preparing to see the ferociously fierce, Nicki Minaj.

She either has the best marketing team behind her, or a styling team who is way too familiar with meth.

You’ll probably recognize some of these high profile red carpet fashions that look like a Sister Act/Bride of Frankenstein/Mad Max crossover only a hallucinating rave child could dream up after partying until 9 a.m. The crowd was definitely more reserved at the concert, which is saying something considering the amount of neon I witnessed. Note: people moved quite fast so it was hard to snap proper photos.

So many heels. So much neon. It was basically a drag queen’s lookbook dream come true.

As for her stage presence, Nicki’s gear was slightly more tame than her red carpet looks. But let’s be real, this broad is over the top 24/7 and that’s why I love her. From bringing 90s technicolour realness, to a very sexy black dominatrix look that would totally be at home on the set of “True Blood”, to a Marilyn-esque pink and white gown for her serious tunes, the costume changes were sparse but fierce.

The glamour of sitting in the 16th Row means you get to enjoy distant and blurry photos of this mighty broad.

There’s so much Barbie realness delivered, it’s overwhelming. Oh, and Nicki took some folks up on the stage for SuperBass which was totes adorbs.

There were several highlights of the night but the one that stands out most for me happened just before “Fire Burns”. If you’re not familiar, this is a song about heartbreak that includes the lyrics,

“This is a sickening joke that you play with my emotions/And so I pray you burn in hell and you never find the ocean”

Heavy shit, son. So, before Nicki launched into this track, she gave a quick intro calling out to her “girls that have ever been lied to by a man” which prompted a sixteen-year old girl in front of me to go absolutely bananas, wave her arms and scream, “YOU KNOW IT, NICKI”.

The Marilyn-esque gown on the right was her “Fire Burns” ensemble. Which she sang in front of Barbie’s Dream Fire Place. Thanks for the photos, Google.

Honey, you’re sixteen – what do you know about life and men lying to you? Talk to me when your man decides a text message from another country that says, “I’m fine. Check your email.” is sufficient communication after three weeks of radio silence.

Let me distract you from that personal overshare with this confetti shot I Instagrammed!

All in all, I had a great time. I mean, how could four gay men – one of whom is a Nicki drag queen named Peach Cobblah – not enjoy the onslaught of a Nicki Minaj concert? Sure, I may be colour blind when the summer ends. And when fall fashion is nothing but earthy jewel tones with tweed accents, I’ll just assume everything is brown. Then again, I usually stick with plaid and denim so I’ll be fine.

The Baddest Bitch In East Van, Peach Cobblah. xo