Has there ever been such a hotly anticipated, or completely bonkers act booked for Bestival than the D-o-double-G? With giant Rasta-flag stage projections emblazoned with his noggin, and a nonchalant slither onto the stage to ‘Here Comes The King’, it’s clear that Snoop Dogg has lost none of his cool and is determined to do things his way (otherwise affectionately known as Doggy-Style…). Wearing trademark baggy Adidas trackies, oversized tshirt and a leather jacket, with a confident swagger – Snoop looks like he rolled off a sofa somewhere and decided to do a show… to thousands of people, he just oozes ease. Calling “If you’re smoking weed, now’s the time to light that shit up… Snoop Liiiiooonnn”, Calvin Broadus Jr.’s newest alter-ego is a lot more reggae and a lot less rap, but that doesn’t appear to affect his having some scantily clad ladies join him on stage.
Asking the crowd to wave their hands from side to side, Snoop burns through ‘PIMP’ and ‘Gin and Juice’ before a sneaky Katy Perry ‘California Gurls’ cover, clips of Calvin Harris’ ‘Feel So Close’ and straight into his more controversial section of the show. Dressed in hungry-bum style leather hotpants (you know, the permanent wedgie kind worn by every other Rihanna-wannabe at festivals) the gyrating girls proceed to give Snoop a public lapdance, whilst he’s singing Akon track ‘I Wanna Fuck You’ to the amusement/bewilderment of the crowd.
The famous refrain of Dr. Dre/Snoop collaboration ‘Next Episode’ elicits a roar of excitement from the audience and hilarious dancing ensues for ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’ (most funny was the extraordinarily tall skinny kid in front of us, dressed as a member of Team Zissou, trying to twerk). A quick acoustic rendition of ‘Lodi Dodi’ and an ultimate sing along of ‘Who Am I (What’s My Name)’ and the Doggfather closes out the show with the words “I’ll be back in England whenever you want me”. Yelling“I got some last words… SMOKE WEED MOTHERF**KERS!” and Bob Marley’s ‘Jammin’, he slinks casually off stage. It’s safe to say Snoop lived up to the hype, whilst staying effortlessly at ease – it’s all part of the charm and nostalgia, and Bestival definitely got a big Doggy-dose of it tonight.
