I Say West, You Say Side!

I recently had the rough assignment to live tweet at the Snoop Dogg & Ice Cube concert for Voodoo Lounge in Harrah's Casino, North Kansas City, MO.  Can you smell the sarcasm?  I was thrilled!  I'm a concert fanatic!

I love all kinds of music, but admittedly, I'm not a rap fan.  Short of Sugar Hill Gang's "Rappers Delight" and some goofy Will Smith stuff like "Parents Just Don't Understand", I am ashamed to admit I am not well versed in rap.  However, I do know a potentially good time. What wasn't going to be fun about this show?!   It had fun all over it from the git go!

I learned several new curse words, met rapper/actor Ice Cube, had a great time chatting it up with the entourage from both artists, opening DJ's, the site photographer Jeff Knights of Snap the Moment , the DJ at intermission JT Quick , security, the Voodoo staff, the cops and all the while, my husband who does like rap, and graciously joined me.

Here's a recap of the show from my perspective:
I'd been pumping the show on twitter for a few weeks before July 30th.  The pre-show tweets on Twitter are always interesting and people get excited...

People were jammed up to the stage from the moment the doors opened. There were no chairs on the main floor, thank gawd.  Unless you're Yanni, I will never understand why an artist would want seating on the main floor for their show.  If a person is standing, more than likely they will dance, at the least a little.  Sway.  That's far better than a bump on a log.  A.K.A.: a person in a chair.

I was backstage as Ice Cube was preparing to take the stage.  He was charming, funny, gracious, all smiles... just the way I wanted him to be.   As he was holding the microphone in his left hand, at the bottom of the few steps leading up to the stage, I said "Ice... one more before going on" and held up my camera phone. In what I guess is typical celebrity behavior, he struck a "bad ass" pose.  It's not indicative of the guy we were just talking to, but it really is a great shot.

This is a pathetic pic of he and I.  I was hot, sweaty and well... a little overly giddy.  Ice on the other hand looks like a baby doll.  I shouldn't even put it up, but it's too funny not to.

Those with "media passes", like  moi', could stand between the stage and the barrier/wall o' fans, and take pics, touch the artists shoes, get some sweat flung on us... and boy did we!  LOL!!!

Ice Cube was difficult to take photos of because he was always moving so fast. He was full of energy and so were the guys in his "crew" er "band" er, whatever you call them.   I did however, get a sweet shot of his sparkled glittery shoes each time he stood in front of me.  My 8 yr old daughter gave this a big thumbs up.  Ice Cube saw me snapping this shot and gave me a wink like "I know. They are so cool."   It's all about the BLING baby.

Ice did a full show. Truly... it was longer than most opening acts and the crowd was really engaged with him.  Ice Cube's energy and audience interaction made his performance, for me, the best of the night.

Right after he was done, a DJ from Hot 103 Jamz, TJQuick entertained the crowd.  I love how the computer and the turntable are so portable and he was amazing!  Kept the audience upbeat despite being jam packed to the stage waiting for Snoop Dogg.. (photo via Jeff Knight)

JT Quick is a super nice guy, confident and charming.  He was notified that afternoon he would be doing this intermission set and he did it like he had been planning for a month.  He also did the same thing Ice Cube did for me.  When I asked for a pic, this sweet faced smiley guy went from that .. to "Bad Ass"

It was getting warm and it was one of those days earlier with a heat of index of 110 degrees and humidity at 110%.  The security and cops came out and tossed out cases of bottled water to the concert goer's who started out boo'ing them... then realized what they were doing and cheered for them.

I didn't get to visit with Snoop Dogg like I did Ice Cube. He was M.I.A. backstage and the green room and when it was time for him to go on stage, BAM! There he was!  He was however, much easier to photograph. He doesn't sprint or jump across stage.  He uses his swagger to get from one side to the other.

Check out  his "ring" that says "Snoop Dogg". At least, that's what I think it says.  It's like a set of brass knuckles... really.   (via Jeff Knight)

He struck a lot of poses for the gazillion camera phones in everyone's hands... the crowd loved it!

and the crowd adored him! I mean really adored him!  And connecting gestures like shaking hands only fueled their love and frenzy for wanting to be closer to him...

Don't you love where I got to take photos from?   I know!!!!   The tweets from concert go-ers during and after the show were dynamite!  I love how social media can put even those who weren't there, almost there.

You can find more great photos from the club photographer, Jeff Knight,  HERE and you can find my tweets and photos HERE for date July 30th.   The best part of the evening was watching the crowd. They were so happy and diverse and you could feel the good mojo coming from everyone of them.

You can follow Voodoo on Twitter at @VoodooKC and HERE on Facebook.  You can follow me on Twitter at @AlexisCeule too.

Next blog.... on the incredible Los Lonely Boys concert the night after this one took place!  Same assignment.   I'm one lucky girl.