Please, don't get me wrong. I like an Instagram story as much as the next fake art heaux whose lifeblood is attention. I love to show everyone what a great time I am having at the music concert via the medium of as-live videos. I am, for all intents and purposes, part of the problem; part of the reason why the live music experience as we once knew it is changing, its had-to-be-there magic somewhat dimming and replaced by the glow of 3,000 mobile phone backlights swaying at once.However, you have to admit, sometimes phones at shows are useful. How else would we have gotten all those different angles of Travis Scott falling in the hole? And how would we have been able to experience the visceral screams of this fan – at about 21 seconds in – who reacted almost exactly the same way I would have when Drake brought out Nicki Minaj during a show in Paris this past weekend?
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Though this scream speaks the language of my soul, I have never seen someone respond so enthusiastically to the song "Only."Other highlights of La Minaj's appearance at the show (where Drake called her "The Great One" because he's exactly the type of guy who comments on Instagram photos of his girlfriend of two weeks saying "My Queen *crown emoji* *100 emoji*") included her first live performance of her Remy Ma and Meek Mill diss "No Frauds," as well as her Drake-featuring numbers "Moment 4 Life" and "Truffle Butter".
Watch some more badly-lit footage below, and thank your lucky stars for phones at shows, even though they're annoying as hell. For another example of Nicki truly destroying the vocal chords of her French fans, please refer to exhibit A: video footage of surprise-inducing screeching when Minaj strolled out for "Flawless (Remix)" during Bey and Jay's On the Run tour in 2014.
Follow Lauren on Twitter.(Image via Nicki Minaj on Instagram)