Snoop Dogg, Wiz Khalifa, Too Short, Warren G, Berner, DJ Drama
Dos Equis Pavilion
Dallas, Texas
Photos and article by Craig Youngblood
It was a scorching August Sunday evening as thousands of fans descended on Dos Equis Pavilion to attend Snoop Dogg’s high school reunion tour. Snoop brought some fantastic friends and West Coast Royalty to show us all an incredible time. The lines wrapped down and around several sidewalks as fans waited to enter the doors to see their favorite artists and have a great time despite the Texas heat. A diverse crowd from all walks of life came to the party, and there was something here for everyone to enjoy tonight. As it got closer to showtime, the seats and lawn began to fill up fast, and anticipation grew to get this party started.
The night’s first act was DJ Drama, who set up on the edge of the stage and welcomed everyone in attendance to the show. He started playing all the old-school jams and had everyone dancing and making some noise as he played the songs many of us have listened to for years. He continued playing hit after hit, talking between songs, hyping the crowd, and getting them prepared for the rest of this incredible lineup. As soon as DJ Drama wrapped up his set, he welcomed rapper Berner to the stage to take this party up another notch. Before Berner took the stage, his DJ started playing Bob Marley and had all the fans singing along with him as he welcomed Berner to the stage and jumped off into his set for the night. Berner Kicked things off with Best Thang Smokin and Wax Room, and after this song, he began interacting with the fans and even tossed a couple of cold waters out to the fans sweating in the heat and still partying and keeping the vibe strong.
DJ Drama was back up on the stage, spinning some classics, and as he faded it out, he had everyone make some noise and welcome Legendary Warren G up on the stage to perform for us! As Warren G walked up to the front of the stage, the fans lit up and screamed excitedly as he welcomed us to the show. He kicked things off with his song This DJ, and as he sang the lyrics, he would stop and let the fans sing some of the words to him as he finished the song. He wrapped that song and jumped off into Do You See, and the crowd joined in and sang with him to every word. He continued his set, talking with the fans and singing his hits, and even brought out his friends, the Twinz, to help with a couple of songs. After moving through his set, he closed it with the classic song Regulate! As soon as the first notes hit for Regulate, the crowd began singing and dancing along, having a great time and enjoying the summertime concert.
Bay Area Legend Too Short, welcomed to the stage by DJ Drama, followed behind Warren G to keep this reunion show going into the night. As Too Short was entering the stage, he asked the crowd what his favorite word was, and they all answered loudly Bitch and repeated this a few times. He quickly jumped into Shake that Monkey and the fans started jumping around, and women all over started dancing and grinding all over their pavilion. After this song, he jumped back into Blow the Whistle and had the fans singing along with him with every verse he rapped. He kept playing his hit songs throughout the set and had the fans dancing and singing along. He sang so many hits during his set; the crowd was on the edge of their seat with every song. They all went crazy when he was rapping his song Gangsters and Strippers, and there was dancing and jumping around from the front of the stage to the back of the lawn.
Next up for the night was the incredible Wiz Khalifa, and when the DJ introduced him and followed that with a short video with a joint narrating, it was Looking for Wiz. His opening song began playing, and the crowd started screaming his name! He came out of a phone booth on the side of the stage and jumped straight into Black and Yellow, which seemed to be a fan favorite, as they were singing along with him as he sang. He was running all over the stage and dancing, hopping all over the place with enormous energy! As he finished up a high-energy opening song, he began talking with the crowd and welcoming everyone to the High School Reunion show. He stated that the next song was about us, and he loved us, titled You, and as soon as he began, you could see the heads bobbing along and dancing all around us in the venue. As he wrapped up You and talked to the crowd as he got the group involved and went off into Roll Up and the Bass was hitting so hard you could feel it from the front to the back of the venue had everyone moving and enjoying watching him work the stage from side-to-side toying with the crowd. He continued working his way through his set list and even jumped up on the lockers and was singing later in his set with some band members and performed with a fabulous stage presence.
The night’s Final act was the West Coast Legend, the Doggfather Snoop Dogg! Slow Burn, the Joint intro, was playing as the stage got put in order and said Snoop would pull up soon in a cloud of smoke. As the video ended, the lights went out, and the video wall on the stage began opening. A ’64 Impala started coming onto the scene, and Snoop was in the driver’s seat. The whole place hit the roof with yelling, and everyone was videoing the car coming out and could hardly hold back the anticipation for him to get out and start performing. As he exited the vehicle and walked to the front, he stood and looked out into the crowd with his microphone in one hand and joint in another in typical Snoop fashion. As he looked out into the crowd and took a couple of hits off his joint, he began rapping The Next Episode, and the fans screamed the lyrics at him as he welcomed us to the show and continued without missing a beat. Quickly following that up with a cover of Boyz-n-the-hood, the fans could have been heard for miles around the venue with their reaction. He jumped straight into Nuthin’, But a “G” Thang and fans were singing along with every lyric he spit out at them. Snoop continued working through an incredible set list with covers mixed with some of his old and new stuff. A little into his show, siren sounds started going off with the speakers saying this is the police, and the fans erupted as the intro to Murder was the Case began speaking. Snoop leaned back onto his Impala as that played, picked up his mic, and started the words to the song and had everyone’s full attention as they sang with him and danced. Not too long after that, he brought out The Lady of Rage, and they began tearing up the stage going back and forth, singing Afro Puffs and videos played in the background behind them. He continued into the night, playing hit after hit, and giving the fans exactly what they hoped for in such a phenomenal performance here tonight.
This concert was the first high school reunion I had ever attended, and it was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. Of course, this wasn’t your typical high school reunion, as this show was filled with incredible performances by many legendary artists. This whole show was outstanding from beginning to end, and the vibe of the show was terrific despite the brutal Texas heat. I plan to experience another lineup like this when it is in town and will not miss any of these performers’ shows the next time they come to town. They still have some shows left, so if they come to your town, you should get tickets if they aren’t sold out and experience it yourself. I know you will not be disappointed and enjoy every minute like I did.
