Live at the Olympia, Dublin
As brilliant a performer as Snoop is, he left us feeling ever so slightly short-changed...
Alisande Orme, 28 Jul 2010
Hot Press loves Snoop and Snoop loves the ladies. Throughout his sold-out gig at The Olympia, not to mention afterwards when at least 40 hot young things line up to meet him, it's clear that Snoop is still very much the Doggfather, blowing kisses to women in the front row and dancing like a pervy uncle at a wedding. Not that that's a bad thing; flanked by an excellent live band, as well as DJ and back-up MC, the West Coast rapper puts in the kind of consummate performance that makes you wish he could stick around for the weekend and play Oxegen too.
After keeping them waiting while he "got his shit together", Snoop arrived on stage to a ferocious roar from the crowd, who sang and cheered continually as he worked his way through recent hits such as 'Beautiful' – dedicated to fans waving a Brazil flag – 'Signs' and 'Drop It Like It's Hot', as well as older ones like 'What’s My Name', the NWA hit 'Fuck Tha Police' and 'Sensual Seduction', which he dedicated to the ladies (obviously). He also covered House Of Pain’s 'Jump Around', a move that saw the whole theatre threaten to collapse under the weight of bouncing bodies.
There's a lot to be said for knowing how to work a crowd, and Snoop and his (reportedly 70-strong) entourage know exactly what they're doing; they run through the hits, they droop the tricolour over the turntables, they chant "Fuck Thierry Henry!", and nearly spark a riot when they fling T-shirts and drumsticks into the audience. But, after whipping the crowd into a near frenzy during a relatively short hour-long set, they don’t play an encore, preferring to send out burly security men in impeccable suits to entertain the crowd after the show, by shining flashlights into the faces of all the remaining women in order to decide which ones they’d invite to the afterparty.
As brilliant a performer as Snoop is, if he’d played three or four more songs, the show could nearly have been perfect. As it was, he left us feeling ever so slightly short-changed.
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