Written By: Pablo CortezPhotos By: Dustin Roe
View all of Dustin's photos here.
Day 1 - After six smokeless years, well, not completely smokeless, Cypress Hill returned to San Bernardino, CA for the seventh Smoke Out tour. The joint venture with Guerilla Union was held at the San Manuel Amphitheatre, formerly the Glen Helen Pavilion and featured original member reunions of both Goodie Mob and Geto Boys and, for the first time ever, Cypress Hill closing out the night by performing the entire Black Sunday album on the first day of this two day festival.
Tents and Flicks - A number of performers opened the show including Short Dawg, Swollen Members, Devin the Dude, Psycho Dream and Hieroglyphics which you could watch at the Indonesia Stage, acting main stage for the night. The expo tent housed vendors, petitioners, medical marijuana advocates and the day’s meet and greet with the performers as well as discussion/education panels from Oaksterdam University and Celeb-stoners Mickey Avalon, Ngaio Bealum, Michael Rapaport and Adrianne Curry. A couple of stoner comedies were played in front of the grassy knoll,” How High?” and “Nice Dreams”, making for a hazy, mellow movie at the park night. This area of the event seemed to cater to the people that were standing in the sun throughout the day and burnt out. Drinks and munchies were just a few feet away and the open turf area was a good place to lay and watch the crowds go by. Speaking of munchies, a good assortment of food vendors were out. Tacos, nachos, burgers, hot dogs, ice creams and churros were readily available. Good thing too, considering the crowd.
Bushwicked, mobbed and lit up - We were able to catch the Geto Boy’s set with original members; Willie D, and Bushwick Bill. Scarface did not make it the show. Their set included hits like “The World is a Ghetto”,” My Mind is Playing Tricks on Me”, and my favorite “Damn it Feels Good to be a Gangster” the story of how to be a good gangster with a bit of politics thrown in. Making an entrance to the Rocky theme song, Goodie Mob followed. Setting it up with “Goodie Bag”, a tweaked “Git up Git out” mixing Spandau Ballet’s “True” with Beastie Boy’s “Paul Revere” which surprisingly works, and a collection of their hits, both old and new. These guys got the crowd ready for Cypress Hill who played their 1993 album Black Sunday in its entirety starting with track 1, “I Want to Get High”.
B-Real lit up what must have been the largest blunt he could hold in one hand and the crowd followed suit. They were engulfed in a steady, continuous thick fog that rolled up and over their heads for the entire set. This set took us back to the days hanging out at a friend’s garage or backyard, listening to the album while collecting cash for and debating who would make the trip to the fast food drive thru. Day 1 of SmokeOut 2009 was a very chill, very relaxed event. Definitely worth a trip out for fans of hip-hop and that little green plant that makes this all possible.
See Dave Brook's Review of Day 2 here.
See David Carr's Review of Day 2 here.
See Ed Hannigan's Day 2 photos here.
