We had known beforehand to expect Tash Sultana, who told us during the week that when Snoop reached out to ask them to deliver some guitar riffs they responded with a no-nonsense “sure thing, mate”. Sultana had three lead breaks across the set, and sounded terrific on each.

For Beautiful, Jessica Mauboy emerged to sing the Pharrell Williams parts, a little wobblingly at times. Baker Boy, who had kicked off proceedings by performing his single Thick Skin 20 minutes earlier, came on stage with his didgeridoo, and delivered a stirring solo as the set swung into full dance-club mode with Sweat.

Snoop mostly slunk around with his customary air of a very relaxed man, but occasionally began to cut it up, looking rather like that favourite uncle who got a bit liberal with the party juice at the family barbecue.

All around Snoop, the massed ranks of dancers suggested various aspects of black American culture: the black colleges and their dancing bands referenced in Beyoncé’s 2019 concert film, Homecoming; the guys in their flannel check shirts and bandanas – red on this side, blue on that – suggesting the Crips and Bloods gangs of Dogg’s Los Angeles home town; the women in their skimpy outfits sitting somewhere between cheerleaders and flight attendants.

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“From Los Angeles to Melbourne” a sign behind the stage read at one point, and though the trade wasn’t all one way, it definitely favoured the visiting side.

There had been some disgruntled chatter in the weeks leading up to the game about the wisdom of picking an American hip-hop artist to headline the entertainment. And there were no doubt many watching for whom this was a first encounter with Snoop. The haters gonna hate, but on the strength of this showing, many should find the AFL vindicated in its choice.

The rock fans will no doubt gripe, the parochialists will whinge that it should have been an Aussie artist at the top of the bill, but hip-hop is one of the most popular genres in Western music. Its presence on this stage was well overdue.

Thankfully, Snoop Dogg didn’t just appreciate the significance of the moment, he lived up to it too. He finished with a truncated version of his 1992 song Who Am I (What’s My Name?). By the time he exited, there can’t have been too many unable to answer that question: Snoop Doggy Dogg, master of the big occasion.

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