Snoop Dogg – Treasure Island Resort & Casino – Welch MN – April 26th 2019

Treasure Island Resort and Casino presents Snoop Dogg.

I don’t care if it’s Pop, Country or Hardcore Rap – music brings people together! That certainly was the case Friday night (4/26) as Treasure Island Casino was the place to be for a house party on steroids starring one of Rap’s best known, long standing performers, Snoop Dogg. The location itself naturally generates excitement with its extensive gaming floor and was an excellent fit for the night-life oriented audience this event attracted. TI catered nicely to this crowd by creating a party like atmosphere even before entering the Island Event Center, where the concert took place. There was an enthusiastic DJ generating buzz in the lobby that paired nicely with an endless flow of the evenings signature drink, Gin & Juice.

The Dogg Pound was first up and enthusiastically proclaimed, “this ain’t nothin’ but a gangsta’ party.” Their hard edge style set the evenings tone and demanded participation from this already engaged capacity crowd. Kurupt & Daz Dillinger were perfectly in-synch on some tricky phrasing that sounded tough against an old school beat.

You could feel the level of excitement raise up a notch for another westside fixture, Warren G. He used “This DJ” as his own introduction and fans required no coaxing to sing along, “… this DJ be Warren G.” His laidback style and storytelling approach made songs like “I Want It All” and “Indo Smoke” infectious and fun to groove along to. There was a witty quality to Warren’s audience banter, and he seemed intent on making sure everyone was having a good time. “Regulate” was his strongest track during which he asked fans to point towards the sky in memory of Nate Dogg.

Everything was elevated for the main event as Snoop Dogg used “I Wanna Rock” for his grand appearance. There was a posse-like presence on stage that featured additional Rapper’s, six energetic female dancers and mascot Nasty Dogg. Snoop was sporting his usual look; blue sweat suit over a white “Crenshaw” t-shirt, dark shades and a bejeweled custom microphone. He seemed fully engaged in the performance and was expert at interacting with all parts of the room. His rapping was on point sounding both tight and fresh.

Snoop covered a lot of material during his 70-minute performance, including some songs from other artists he had worked with – “P.I.M.P” (50 Cent), “Smile” (Lil Duval). He touched on a range of themes such as dark times “Murder Was the Case” and living large “Trash Bags” complete with stripper poles and a money gun that ejected Snoop Dogg currency. He also revealed a respectful side with a tasteful video tribute to Nipsey Hustle. Snoop encouraged people to “put your cups in the air if you lost somebody this year.”

With more hits cover than time probably allowed, Snoop cycled through some partial songs in medley style. My favorite part included “The Next Episode”, “Nuthin’ But a G Thang” and “Bitch Please”. He did the same for “Cruisin’ in My 64” (Eazy-E), “Hypnotize” (The Notorious B.I.G), “Gangster Party” (Tupac Shakur) “Jump Around” (House of Pain) and “Drop It Like It’s Hot”. “Gin and Juice” was of course a fan favorite along with “Who Am I (What’s My Name)”. Having covered a nice variety of songs from all parts of his career, Snoop closed with “Young Wild & Free”. The show delivered on both quality and entertainment value leaving fans satisfied and looking forward to the next time around.

Review Patrick Dunn photo provided by Treasure Island