Britney Spears, Nicki Minaj Joined By Kanye West In New York

 
Britney Spears, Nicki Minaj Joined By Kanye West In New  York
Yeezy spices up the Femme Fatale Tour stop,  appearing with Nicki for 
'Monster' on Tuesday night.
 
(http://www.mtv.com/photos/britney-spears-i-wanna-go-video-pop-references/1666233/6296302/photo.jhtml)  
UNIONDALE, New York — The Nassau Coliseum was already packed by the  time 
opening act _Nicki Minaj_ 
(http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/minaj__nicki/artist.jhtml)   took the stage Tuesday night. The screams that filled the stadium 
as "Roman's  Revenge" boomed on the speakers made it seem like _Britney  
Spears'_ (http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/spears_britney/artist.jhtml)  Femme 
Fatale Tour is actually a co-headlining event.  
And then came a bigger surprise. Only a few songs in, an unusual tension  
filled the arena as Nicki kept looking back over her shoulder during a  
transition between songs. Then the first few beats of "Monster" came on and out  
ran Kanye West _Kanye West_ 
(http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/west_kanye/artist.jhtml) ,  who was taking time out of his busy promo schedule leading up 
to the release of  his and _Jay-Z's  Watch the Throne._ 
(http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1668329/jay-z-kanye-west-watch-throne-listening-party.jhtml)  
After the song, Kanye beamed his toothiest white  smile, and the crowd could 
not have been any more psyched. The shrieking  continued as Nicki finished 
off her set with hits including "Check It Out" and  "Super Bass."  
Roughly 30 minutes later, the Britney-themed countdown clock in the arena  
read 00:00 and the cheering threatened to blow the already-shaky roof 
straight  off the rafters. After a short intro video, showing one of the world's 
biggest  pop stars being hunted and arrested by a SWAT team, Britney burst 
onto the stage  and went straight into "Hold It Against Me," as teens, young 
professionals, gay  men and a healthy dose of middle-aged fans alike 
collectively pushed forward.  
Spears performed songs off her latest album, Femme Fatale, intermixed  with 
classics all the way back to "... Baby One More Time," though many were  
shortened versions of the originals. Some of the highlights included "Slave 4  
U," in which she revisited some of the same choreography from her classic 
music  video and 2001 VMA performance; a Rihanna-less "S&M" that involved her 
 riding shirtless male dancers down a catwalk; and "Lace and Leather," in 
which  she called her Long Island-born boyfriend, Jason Trawick, out of the 
audience,  handcuffed him to a stripper pole and gave him a PG-rated lap 
dance.  
While critics have noted that Britney doesn't dance as much as she did in 
her  early days, there was a great deal of choreography in the live show, and 
she was  always moving in some capacity — though much of it involved wrist 
snapping,  finger pointing, prop-riding, hair-whipping and strutting. She 
smiled anytime  she wasn't giving her infamous smoldering glare, and tore up a 
handful of song  breakdowns (for songs like "Toxic" and "Big Fat Bass") 
with old-school Britney  power thrusts.  
The arena crowd stayed on their feet the entire time, and they received one 
 last sort-of surprise (since it hasn't happened at every single show on 
the  tour): Nicki Minaj joined Britney onstage for the encore performance of 
"Till  the World Ends."