Christine Gagliano and her friends devised a plan to meet Snoop Dogg on Friday, May 2, while dodging a light drizzle at the entrance to the Whittemore Center.

“We’re going through the doors, get patted down and running for the stage,” said junior Gagliano amid a crowd of eager Snoop fans. “We’re going to take off our heels and run. These people behind us think they’re getting in first—they’re not. I’ve been here since 2.”

Gagliano and her friends, juniors Jenna Madore and Kiley Anderson, were the first concert-goers to start a line outside the Whit before SCOPE’s Spring Climax concert on May 2, featuring platinum-selling rap artist Snoop Dogg.

“It’s about the experience and everything,” said Gagliano. “It’s going to be loud and rowdy. It’s going to be great. We also want Snoop Dogg to notice us and give us a shout-out.”

Gagliano’s plan helped the trio get front row spots at the sold-out performance, but not backstage. However, some of the 5,000 Snoop fans that packed the Whit did chill with the legendary rapper after the show, snapping some pictures for their Facebook photo albums or catching a little “Law & Order” on a big-screen TV.

“I was in the front row and after the concert a bodyguard pointed at me and my friends and said we could go backstage,” said junior Leigh Okerfelt, recalling her Friday night experience in a phone interview. “It was fun to meet him and go backstage and hang out with him for a little while.”

Although the majority of concert-goers enjoyed the music safely, UNH Deputy Police Chief Paul Dean said a total of 35 concert-related arrests occurred both inside and outside the Whit. According to Dean, there were fewer arrests during this Spring Climax event than there were for the Ludacris rap concert on May 5, 2007. He said the rainy weather may have been one of the factors that resulted in fewer arrests.

“It was a fair amount of students who were arrested,” Dean said in a telephone interview Monday evening. “Charges ranged from possession of alcohol to possession of drugs. There was someone arrested on possession of cocaine.”

Dean also described an incident in which a girl reported to UNH police the following morning that some of her hair had been ripped out during an altercation at the concert. He said there was a mixture of student and non-students arrests.

“Some of the people that were arrested at the concert who were from outside (the university community) had student IDs on them that friends gave them to provide for cheaper tickets,” said Dean.

Fans seemed pleased with the quality of the concert, which also included two opening acts—British rockers Fiction Plane and harmonica player/rapper Bad News Brown.

“I think Snoop Dogg was a little bit better than Ludacris, even though Ludacris rocked it. Snoop Dogg is the man,” said freshman Tucker McCarthy as he exited the Whit with throngs of amped Snoop fans. “I heard Snoop Dogg wasn’t going to play any Death Row songs, but he did.”

Like McCarthy, many students wondered prior to the concert if Snoop would perform any of his classic Death Row Records songs. To the delight of many, he opened the show with “Murder Was the Case” and rounded out the first four songs with “Gin and Juice.” He also played songs from his new album, “Ego Trippin’.”

While the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd of sweaty, grinding college students welcomed Snoop with chants of praise, the other performers touring with Snoop Dogg were excited to be a part of the event, as well.
“Snoop is open to a lot of different genres of music and bringing a live band is what we love, and we are looking forward to borrowing his crowd for a little while,” said Fiction Plane drummer Pete Wilhoit at his band’s merchandise table. “And nobody passes up a chance to tour with Snoop … or you’d be crazy not to.”