Snoop Dogg and crew recently stopped in Vancouver, and we at Killahbeez.com had the pleasure to attend this sold out show (actually the show was sold out within 20 minutes). The show, aptly titled Snoop’s West Fest and presented by Live Nation, featured acts Domino, Western Union, Warzone, Mistah F.A.B, Tha Dogg Pound, Warren G and Snoop Dogg. I basically arrived late and pretty much missed all of the opening acts, but the homey Kam, whose name wasn’t on the bill, was on stage and doing basically the only song I knew from him, “Whoop Whoop,” which is also a fairly well known Ice Cube diss track. No doubt it’s a West Coast classic and a banger at that, and the crowd was hype.

A few moments went by and Tha Dogg Pound come out for their set. The crowd went nuts as Daz and Kurupt traded verses back and fourth. After all these years, I have to say that Kurupt is still a beast on the mic. Daz, well that homeboy looked like he had one too many cheeseburgers, but it’s all love, son. They both proceeded to drop their verses from Snoop’s song, “Doggy Dogg World.” The crowd was mad hype during Tha Dogg Pound’s whole set and showed them love by sharing a few joints. I even thought I saw a couple of Philly blunts - now that’s love. They kept the whole vibe going for their 30 - 40 minute set, doing classics like “Let’s Play House” and “What Would You Do,” which in my opinion is one of the hardest tracks to this day by any artist. Their whole set was a definite time warp back to 1995.

What felt like 15 - 20 minutes later, Snoop Dogg finally appeared and the crowd went bananas. Dude came out lookin’ silky smooth with a crazy iced out “Snoop Dogg” five-finger ring. He started going hard on his set and ripping through his song “The Shiznit,” and shortly after, Warren G and Tha Dogg Pound came out to join Snoop on stage. When Warren G came out, he was unrecognizable. He looked waaaay older and bigger, not the usual G-Child that we were all used to seeing during his “Regulate” days. From there, Snoop Dogg dropped “Stacks”, the classic “Gin and Juice” and “Snoops Upside Yo Head.” Once that song ended, Snoop introduced Warren G, and thus his set began.

Warren G started off with “This DJ” and the crowd was rappin’ along lyric for lyric. From there, he performed “I Want It All,” “So Fly” and off course, the classic joint, “Regulate.” Everybody went crazy on that song and rapped along. The DJ and him would stop the beat and let the crowd take over a capella style. During this song, members of the audience were sparking up and I saw a few people C-Walking in the back area. Yah, C-Walkin’.

Once Warren G finished “Regulators,” Snoop Dogg once again took the stage and went into “Ain’t No Fun” with the support of Tha Dogg Pound and Warren G. From there, Snoop performed one of the first songs he ever did with Dr. Dre, “Deep Cover,” which was covered and renamed “Twinz” years later by Big Pun and Fat Joe. The joint “Deep Cover,” as some may remember, ended up being taken off of Dr. Dre’s Chronic due to the gritty lyrics about killing police officers, but nonetheless, it launched Snoop’s career. The DJ mixed “Deep Cover” into “Nuthin’ But A G Thang,” which then morphed into “Bitch Please.” After that, Snoop took a moment out of his set, like he usually does, and did a tribute to Tupac. The baseline of “Hail Mary” filled the room as everyone remembered the street soldier that left us all too soon. Right after that, the baseline for “2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted” pounded the room, and everybody went crazy once again.

After the tribute to Tupac ended, it was back to Snoop’s stage acts. He paused the show for a bit, and all of a sudden, the stage filled with a bunch of girls (that one can assume were scouted from the crowd). The beat started up, and Snoop started rapping “Beautiful” so the girls on stage could grind it out. Definitely nothing special here, the dancing, if you can call it that, was straight comedy. But yo, I’m willin’ to bet they weren’t scouted for their stage dancing skillz. From there, Snoop did a handful of songs including his latest top 40 hit, “Sexual Eruption,” and an oldie, “Drop It Like Its Hot.” He ended the night off with “What’s My Name?” and the crowd was definitely satisfied.

This was definitely a great show put on by Snoop and his crew, and it’s no wonder that they still sell out concerts without a problem.

A huge thank you to LiveNation.com for their invite to cover the show and allow some photography. The last few shows I’ve been to have been nothing short of amazing. Hit up LiveNation.com for info on upcoming shows in your city.

For more pictures of the concert hit up our Flickr page.