A visibly shocked Nicki Minaj had to dodge a glass thrown from the audience during her first New Zealand concert in Auckland's Vector Arena.

The female rapper stopped performing for several seconds last night after the "plastic" Martini glass with LED lights in it was hurled towards her and then continued on with the show when a dancer threw it back into the crowd.

The Trinidad-born beauty had emerged on stage from a glowing rocket ship, surrounded by fireworks, fire balls and smoke guns and launched into heavy rap tracks Come On A Cone, Did It On 'Em and Beez In The Trap

After a few hiccups, including the thrown glass, she made her way through tracks from her debut album Pink Friday and follow ups Roman Reloaded and The Re-Up.

Minaj is respected as a female rapper who is able to hold her own inside a male-dominated genre and it showed at Vector. The way she delivered her lyrics was electrifying and breathtaking.

She made sure to cover off her bigger pop hits from Pink Friday including Moment 4 Life, Right Through Me and Super Bass, which had the entire arena rapping along with her well-known lyrics.

Va Va Voom and I'm So Proud Of You went down a treat, with Pound The Alarm undoubtedly the biggest hit of the night as her fans danced and sang along non-stop.

Minaj gave her Auckland fans a special treat, dedicating a section of the show to many of her well-known collaborations with acts such as David Guetta, Rihanna and Drake.

She even performed her alter ego Roman's verse from Kanye West track Monster to deafening screams from the crowd.

Long costume changes without any entertainment on stage, such as dancers, made the show feel disjointed and slowed the momentum. A DJ appeared to tease other Minaj songs even though some, like her verse on Justin Bieber's Beauty and a Beat, would have been nice to hear live.

Her interactions with the crowd showed how funny and natural she is, which was refreshing. She even offered some of her Auckland "barbz" - what she calls her fans - who had been camped outside Vector for more than 10 hours the chance to talk to say hello.

Despite any production mishaps, Minaj gave it her all and her Auckland fans will certainly line up again to see her if or when she returns.

- © Fairfax NZ News