WEST FEST REVIEW | Vancouver, BC (June 19 2008) Written By: Adon

   Last night was the 6th stop for Snoop Dogg's West Fest tour.  The sold out show (it sold out in under 10 minutes) took place in Vancouver, BC, at the famous Commodore Ballroom.  Domino was scheduled to open the show at 9:00.  The house lights were on, and Westurn Unions "House Shoe Musik" provided the between-set music.  After waiting until 9:40 it was evident that Domino wasn't even in the building.  Instead Westurn Union started off the show. 

The trio took the Stage, and spent a few minutes introducing themselves.  After the introduction, they formally introduced themselves with, "Intro To Tha Union".  They also perfomed Damani's "Inglewood", and Soopafly did his verse from, "Loosin Control".   It was easy to see that Soopafly was the veteran on stage.  He handled the crowd control and kept the fans involved.  They ended their 25 minute set with their new single "Westurn Union" featuring Daz, and BJ.  I was hoping for Bad Lucc to perform a solo too (Like, "Bang That Sh*t"), but he didn't.

Warzone was set to take the stage next.  Only there was one problem, Goldie Loc & Mc Eiht weren't there.  Perhaps they had some border troubles on their way up from Seattle.  Either way Kam held it down on his own.  It was a treat to see a west coast legend taking the stage by himself.  He came on stage and immediatley broke into "The New Message". 

He introduced himself to the crowd, stating that, "For those that don't know me, my name is Kam.  Ice Cube put me on back in the day; we had some problems but we're cool now……we gave his chain back."

Daz briefly joined Kam on stage to show support.  Kam then performed "Every Single Weekend" off the Boyz n the Hood soundtrack, and  finished his 20 minute set with "Whoop Whoop" off DJ Pooh's "Bad Newz Travelz Fast".

After Kam's set, and a brief intermission, Mistah Fab took the stage.  But Kam also remained the stage, standing on the side watching Fab do his thing.  Being the only Bay Area artist on the bill, Mistah Fab repped hard for the Oakland and the whole Bay.  There were a few Thizz shirts in the crowd, and Fab took notice, thanking them for supporting him, and paying respect to Mac Dre.  Mistah Fab mentioned that it was his first time in Canada, and was visibly excited just to be there performing.  He did all his biggest songs like "Sideshow", "Super Sic Wit it" and more.   Between songs, he showed off his more than impressive freestyling skills going bar after bar off the top of his head.  Mistah Fab showed love to his "Big Brother" Kam on stage too.  It was easy to tell the two are big fans of eachother's music.  It was also cool to see just for the fact that you'd never think to see the two on stage together showing each other love like that.  Near the end of the show, Mistah Fab did a tribute to the late Mac Dre, performing "Feelin Myself", before ending with a new crowd favorite, "Ghost Ride it".

Local favorites Daz and Kurupt took the stage next.  Having had a show in Vancouver just over a month ago, much of their set was the same.  They opened their set with "Nothin But The Cavi Hit", and also performed such classics as "Hell Yeah", "Who Got Some Gangsta Sh*t", "We can freak it", "Big Pimpin", "Doggy Dogg World", "Let's Get High", "Xxplosive", "B*tches Ain't Sh*t", and "What Would U Do?".  The duo came with more energy than usual.  Just like every artist, they were visbly excited and happy to be doing what they love doing.  It would have been cool to hear some new DPG music like Kurupt's "Yessir", or Daz's "Dip Drop", but they stuck to the classics.  They left the stage with the "Cheat" instrumental playing.  Once the instrumental faded out, the crowd new who was up next.

Unfortunately the wait between Tha Dogg Pound, and Snoops set was long (about 40 minutes).  But with "House Shoe Musik" playing, and the smoke filling the air, the crowd didn't seem to mind too much.  After the wait, all the lights went off, and "Carmina Burana" started playing (Think Nas' "Hate Me Now").  As the music built up, the crowd got louder, the room got smokier, and Snoop slowly walked on stage right before the beat for "Ups and Downs" started playing

 "What up motherfuckers? It's Snoop Dogg, I'm trying to figure out how the fuck I'ma do y'all"…

The crowed exploded and was the loudest it had been all night.  After Snoop performed "Ups And Downs" solo.  He took off his hoodie to reveal a white DPG T-Shirt.  Daz, Kurupt, and Soopfly then joined Snoop on stage with matching shirts and mics in hand.  DPG was in full effect.  The stage was lined with Bad Lucc, Damani, Kam, Mistah Fab and various girls.

After performing some newer songs such as "Staxx in my Jeans", Snoop asked the DJ to "Pour 'em a cup of my favorite drink".  As the beat for "Gin & Juice" dropped, Daz douced the crowd with bottle after bottle of champagne.  Snoop stopped the song just short of the end for a 'small chronic break' .  Daz, Kurupt, and Soopafly walked all around the stage picking up the bags of weed, joints, and blunts that fans had thrown on stage.  Rick James', "Mary Jane" came on as everyone in the building lit up.  They smoked for length of the song, all while singing along with it. 

Snoop then asked the crowd if he could bring out his DJ.  "Who knows who my DJ is?", he asked.  After asking a few times, the lights wend dark as Warren G took the stage.  The crowd went crazy for him. 

He opened up with "Do you see", also performing hits such as "I Want it all", and "This DJ".  He took a break to talk to the crowd for a minute before the intro of "Regulate" came on.  The crowd immediately exploded, bringing  a smile to Warren's face.  The crowd sang along word for word, doing a good job filling in for Nate Dogg.  Warren used his background as a DJ to keep the crowd involved, having them wave their hands and sing along. 

"Repeat after me" he told all the all guys in the crowd, "Heeeeeey we want some puuuuusay", the crowd chanted back.  After 3 or 4 times, "Ain't no Fun" came on, and Snoop, Kurupt, Daz, and Soopafly joined Warren on stage.  They went on to perform more classics, keeping the crowd more than happy.  They had created a vibe only matched by 2000's Up in Smoke tour; having so many west coast legends on stage at once. 

Overall the show was a perfect mix of established artists and new artists.  It's always good to check out a DPG show when they're in town, or Snoop when he does his stadium shows, but it's not the same as when they're all together, especially in a more intimate setting.  The concert wasn't about anything other than having a good time, everyone smiling, dancing and just having a party.  Hopefully they can turn the West Fest into an annual event.