Parramatta Park, January 12

There are times you wonder how Nicki Minaj gets away with this. Rarely singing and barely bothering as she rapped, her performance was as plastic as the Barbie she often references in her lyrics.

And it couldn’t have been because she risked bursting out of her suitably ridiculous outfit, as she managed to twerk and bend in ways that showcased her non-musical assets. Feeling Myself, for instance, was as much about miming masturbation as mouthing the chorus.

The early part was heavy on hip-hop, with a truncated version of Beez in the Trap standing out from the pack for its unapologetic swagger. Anaconda is a mess of a song at the best of times, and this was not the best of times.

On the pop side, Jason Derulo and Ariana Grande collaborations Swalla and Side to Side provided some relief, and Pound the Alarm was proper fun. Starships was the night’s best song, and ending with the sparkling Super Bass made it an incomplete disaster.

Which may be tolerable if we weren’t expecting better from a proven hitmaker who has sold 99 million units and was headlining a hip-hop/electronic dance festival that didn’t come cheap.

There was fun to be had, and much of it came from the energy of a crowd that dressed to impress.

Earlier on, Amine may be a discount Childish Gambino, but you may as well imitate the best; Caroline and Reel It In suggest a bright future.

Mura Masa wisely brought along a singer, since watching a white boy tinker with his toys is only entertaining for so long. A precocious producer and multi-instrumentalist, the 22-year-old brought out crowd-pleasing Charli XCX collaboration 1 Night early in the set before showing off his EDM chops. Hit single Lovesick, no worse for A$AP Rocky's absence, got the crowd up as the sun went down.

Rap duo Rae Sremmurd talked a lot of hype without quite delivering it. Perhaps they shouldn’t promise the “greatest show on earth”. Perplexing Pegasus and Come Get Her showed they have skills, but for much of the set they relied heavily on the DJ and backing tracks, not to mention AutoTune. Black Beatles and Unforgettable, the French Montana track Swae Lee featured on, were highlights.

But the main show was Minaj, and despite a few good moments it failed to soar.