The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

Write for Us
Want your voice to be heard? Submit a letter to the editor, send us an op-ed pitch or check out our open positions for the chance to be published by the Daily Utah Chronicle.
@TheChrony
Print Issues
Write for Us
Want your voice to be heard? Submit a letter to the editor, send us an op-ed pitch or check out our open positions for the chance to be published by the Daily Utah Chronicle.
@TheChrony
Print Issues

Snoop Dogg saves otherwise slow Dazed Out Festival

 

Reggae Rise Up has been a Utah favorite for many years. The festival has brought in some of reggae’s biggest names, including Stephen Marley, Slightly Stoopid and Dirty Heads. Sadly, this year’s festival was canceled because event coordinators couldn’t snatch enough high profile headliners. But the organizers announced that in its place, an event would take place with previously announced Snoop Dogg headlining.

The show was transferred to Dazed Out, Utah’s rap/hip-hop festival where mostly underground artists perform. Remnants of what was supposed to be the reggae festival remained, with some vendors selling Rastafarian merchandise.

The festival got off to a slow start. While generally a great venue for summertime outdoor concerts, the USANA Amphitheater does not have a friendly layout for festivals (with the seating sandwiched between the vendors where it is not possible to view the stage). Few activities were available for concert goers. Because of this, the amphitheater was only half full by the time second headliner, Atmosphere, appeared on stage. Yet the crowd remained enthusiastic throughout the day. Dilated Peoples performed most of their underground songs and the crowd still sang along to most of their lyrics.

dilated

Atmosphere came on at 8 p.m. and did not take long to get the crowd fired up. Lead by Slug, the duo performed for an hour to an incredibly enthusiastic crowd. When they were told they only had 10 minutes left to perform, Slug brought Brother Ali (who performed earlier) on stage to freestyle and then perform his final song of the night. The crowd was so energized that they demanded an encore, to no avail.

Up next was notorious gangster rapper Snoop Dogg. Coming on stage at 9:40 p.m. (10 minutes late) the DJ played the first verse to Dr. Dre’s “The Next Episode” and then Snoop came onstage singing his verse wearing a Real Salt Lake jersey and holding a lit blunt.

Known for his affection towards cannabis, Snoop did not try to hide the fact he was smoking throughout his performance, asking for a quick smoke break before performing Dr. Dre’s “Let’s Get High.” He constantly encouraged the crowd to smoke throughout the night.

Snoop Dogg performing at Dazed Out at Usana Amplitheater, Saturday, August 29, 2015
Snoop Dogg performing at Dazed Out at Usana Amplitheater, Saturday, August 29, 2015

Most of the songs he performed were covers of songs where he was featured, such as “Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang” and “California Gurls.” The most interesting song in the setlist was Joan Jett’s cover of The Arrows’ “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll.” He also performed covers of Biggie Smalls’ “Hypnotize” and 2Pac’s “2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted.”

“I want to see if I can get everyone to jump in this motherf–ka,” he said, and then “Jump Around” by House of Pain played.

“Now that I got y’all to jump, can I get you to ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’?” he asked next. This song was the highlight of the evening, where he often paused to let the audience sing for him.

He dedicated the final song of the night to all of his fans that have been around since 1992, performing an emotional “Young, Wild & Free.” Snoop was slotted to go on until 11 p.m., but ended his performance at 10:40 p.m.

Fans that missed this amazing performance need not worry, as Snoop promised that he will return to Salt Lake one day.

Despite the festival having a slow start (with a lack of lighting effects such as spotlights until Snoop came on and a dedicated but small crowd), the festival was ultimately a good time for the audience. Indeed it is possible that the reggae festival would’ve been doomed had it gone through, even with Snoop Dogg performing.

“I have one last words of wisdom [sic] to say to y’all,” Snoop calmly said before leaving the stage. “SMOKE WEED, MOTHERF–KA!”

[email protected]

 

 

Leave a Comment

Comments (0)

The Daily Utah Chronicle welcomes comments from our community. However, the Daily Utah Chronicle reserves the right to accept or deny user comments. A comment may be denied or removed if any of its content meets one or more of the following criteria: obscenity, profanity, racism, sexism, or hateful content; threats or encouragement of violent or illegal behavior; excessively long, off-topic or repetitive content; the use of threatening language or personal attacks against Chronicle members; posts violating copyright or trademark law; and advertisement or promotion of products, services, entities or individuals. Users who habitually post comments that must be removed may be blocked from commenting. In the case of duplicate or near-identical comments by the same user, only the first submission will be accepted. This includes comments posted across multiple articles. You can read more about our comment policy at https://dailyutahchronicle.com/comment-faqs/.
All The Daily Utah Chronicle Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *