California love came to the desert this week when Snoop Dogg’s High School Reunion Tour landed at Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre. West Coast heavyweights (and Wiz Khalifa, the East Coast outlier) drew a sold out crowd ready to beat the heat with their favorite tunes and a cloud of cannabis.
DJ Drama got the tunes bumping to get the early arrivals up out of their seats to catch the freebies that were constantly being tossed into the crowd. Bay Area rapper Berner kept that going as well, promoting his cannabis Cookies with generous samples given out during his set.
Legendary Long Beach rapper Warren G frequently tours with longtime collaborator Snoop Dogg and the overlap in their fanbases had plenty of people rhyming along to “Round & Round” and “Regulate”. Too $Short, another friend of the whole lineup, had a setlist of endless hits like “Blow the Whistle” and “I’m a Player”.
By the time Wiz Khalifa hit the stage, the sun had disappeared beyond the horizon, the crowd was loose and the party really began in earnest. The opening notes of “Black and Yellow” had the audience surging to their feet to “Roll Up” for the rest of the set. Khalifa paced the stage and connected with the fans in the front row and repped “Taylor Gang” in song and stage decoration.
With so many friends on this tour, onstage collaborations were inevitable- Too $hort made a brief appearance during Khalifa’s set for the penultimate “On My Level” before he left the audience “Too High” and ready for Snoop Dogg.
Arizona might be West Coast-adjacent, but Snoop brought his slice of California to us on Wednesday. His stage low-rider meandered out from behind a huge LED screen and the man himself stepped out from behind the wheel, lit a joint and grinned his way through “The Next Episode” and Eazy-E’s “Boyz in the Hood”.
Snoop’s illustrious career in hip hop has netted a catalog stacked with hits and each one- including his features- had a moment in his nearly 30-song setlist. From his verse on Katy Perry’s “California Girls” to an homage to The Notorious B.I.G., classic hip hop was well-represented on that stage.
After sipping on some “Gin and Juice”, Snoop came back out for the best friends portion of his set with Wiz Khalifa. The duo was backed by male and female dancers whirling around the two, along with climbing the set of poles on either end of the stage and the screens behind them spelled out Death Row, lest we forget Snoop’s origins.
“Drop It Like It’s Hot” pulled everyone to their feet once again, while the cheers for “See You Again” reached the parking lot as the audience sang along to the emotional tribute song. The show ended right on time with “Young, Wild & Free”- this reunion might be a party but even those attendees letting loose spilled responsibly into the parking lot to head back home while the night was still young.
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Story and photos by Olivia Khiel
