With a preppy, college football feel, Snoop was flanked by dozens of dancers dressed in red, white and blue uniforms and flashy pyrotechnics, his vocals staying clear for the set that also featured his chart-topper Sweat and his Justin Timberlake collaboration Signs.<\/p>\n
Australian singer Jessica Mauboy, who was earlier unmasked as a surprise local performer after being spotted at a rehearsal at Marvel Stadium this week, joined Snoop onstage toward the end of the 14-minute performance for a duet of Beautiful.<\/p>\n
There were, of course, many words in the lyrics that needed censoring, with Snoop coming to the party after promising a \u201cfamily-friendly\u201d showing.<\/p>\n
Snoop Dogg performed in front of 100,000 AFL fans. Photo \/ Getty Images
Snoop Dogg was joined by Jessica Mauboy for a duet of Beautiful. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
While Snoop\u2019s signature laidback energy was a shift from more high-energy headliners in the past, notably Katy Perry last year, the rapper still pulled off a thoroughly entertaining concert, where he appeared to be having the time of his life as he grinned through applause.<\/p>\n
Fans have already flooded social media to declare it was one of the best pre-match shows in recent memory.<\/p>\n
\u201cSnoop Dogg has killed this AFL grand final entertainment. Best one of all time! #AFLGF,\u201d one wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did not think Snoop Dogg could match Kiss and Robbie Williams but this aint bad!\u201d another said.<\/p>\n
It wouldn\u2019t be a Snoop performance without a C-walk. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cSnoop Dogg\u2019s performance at the Grand Final was truly exceptional and may be the sole highlight of the day. It was probably wasted on an AFL crowd but at least it is finally a decision by the AFL that didnt turn out to be a disaster!!\u201d a third quipped.<\/p>\n
Another wrote, \u201cAFL grand final has smashed it out of the park with Snoop Dogg as pre match entertainment!! So f***ing good!!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t care what no one says, Snoop KILLED IT!!! Hands down the best #AFLGF pre-game EVER,\u201d wrote a fifth.<\/p>\n
And in case there were any doubts the more mature AFL fans wouldn\u2019t be on board, one self-proclaimed boomer chimed in: \u201cBoomer here. Is it right to say Snoop was ace? Because I thought he was ace. Or does nobody say ace anymore?\u201d<\/p>\n
The set had American and college football themes. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
Snoop, who is rumoured to have been paid more than A$2 million ($2.3m), this week indirectly hit back at the criticism that followed the AFL announcing him as the headline act in August, with executives also pressured to remove him amid claims some of his X-rated songs peddle racial and violent themes.<\/p>\n
Making matters worse, Snoop popped up on a podcast interview overseas, triggering a PR storm as he criticised the depiction of same-sex parents in children\u2019s movies.<\/p>\n
The AFL had just suspended Adelaide star Izak Rankine for the use of a homophobic slur, leading many to dub the league \u201chypocritical\u201d.<\/p>\n
At a press conference in Melbourne, Snoop said his music, at its core, stemmed from \u201cpeace, love, understanding [and] communication\u201d, as he expressed his honour to be a part of such a significant moment in Aussie sport.<\/p>\n
Snoop brushed off criticism after his headlining was announced. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand what this game is and what it means, so I know that it\u2019s not just a sport, it\u2019s a way of life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know it\u2019s not just a team or a club, it\u2019s a part of your DNA, so I understand what is at stake and I\u2019m here to do my part and bring what I bring to the table.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like my music has gotten me to a position where I could actually perform at the grand finale and sit before these people and have a conversation about what I plan on doing, what the game means to me and how I\u2019m so honoured to be able to do this.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is huge to me. I would never think that ya\u2019ll would want me to do something like this. I\u2019m truly honoured.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rapper was earlier gifted a Brisbane Lions and Geelong Cats jersey with his name on them. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
There was, at one point, speculation Snoop would be dropped by the AFL in what would\u2019ve been an embarrassing U-turn.<\/p>\n
Brendan Fevola claimed on-air weeks ago he heard the rapper\u2019s gig would get cancelled, adding that he agreed the AFL should pull the pin.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn Snoop Dogg, I might have some goss about that. They\u2019re going to axe him,\u201d Fevola said on 101.9 The Fox\u2019s Fifi, Fev & Nick at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of his lyrics in his song and he talked about [struggling to discuss] \u2013 gay parents over the weekend. I think he will get the ass, and they are going to go for an Aussie artist to play at the MCG. That will happen, take that to the bank. He will get the [ass], which he should.\u201d<\/p>\n
Snoop is the latest high-profile global artist to perform at the AFL Grand Final after the likes of Perry, KISS, Robbie Williams and The Killers in recent years.<\/p>\n
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor\u2019s Picks<\/a>, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week\u2019s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With a preppy, college football feel, Snoop was flanked by dozens of dancers dressed in red, white and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46008,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[836,39869,6127,1975,682,3390,40476,3372,156,5904,10813,1861,40479,111,139,69,6777,40477,40478,40475,544,213,5433],"class_list":["post-46007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-836","tag-afl","tag-already","tag-at","tag-being","tag-best","tag-dogg","tag-dubbed","tag-entertainment","tag-final","tag-grand","tag-history","tag-leagues","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-performance","tag-performs","tag-prematch","tag-snoop","tag-some","tag-sports","tag-stage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}