Frank Ocean pulled off a Coachella concert without being there IRL. Well, almost

Before Coachella 2023, singer-songwriter and Internet’s favourite “sad boy” Frank Ocean had last performed live at a show on March 9, 2019.

So, naturally, when Ocean joined the likes of BLACKPINK and Diljit Dosanjh for this year’s Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival lineup, dedicated “Ocean-ograpghers” were excited to witness their icon back on the stage again on April 16 that would close the first week of the festival. 

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Why are Frank Ocean's fans disappointed?

Much like the lovers in Frank Ocean songs, Mr Ocean didn’t show up (he did show up but only partially). The ones who got to pay and be at the venue were still offered something in the form of Ocean singing half-hidden behind a screen. But it didn’t quite make for the concert they were hoping for as Ocean arrived an hour late, then left the stage twice mid-performance and finally called it a night due to local curfew violations. 

Ocean’s global fanbase, many of whom were also resorting to a livestream from Coachella’s official YouTube account, were equally annoyed. Before the final minutes of his closing performance on Sunday night, Coachella tweeted out that the festival won’t be livestreaming Ocean’s performance as advertised before. 

Within minutes, Frank Ocean fan forums on Twitter, Facebook and Reddit began to call the whole fiasco “insulting” to Ocean’s fans. Others termed his performance as "pretentious" and "lethargic". 

On brand for the ever-enigmatic singer

As it is, Ocean’s hiatus from recording music is infamous. The last time he dropped an album was in 2017. While people still stream the life out of Blonde to this day, they still crave for a Frank Ocean who manages to drop another full-fledged album instead of just dropping guest verses on a Calvin Harris track (Slide).

Even though his last-recorded show before Coachella was in 2019, his last full public concert was in 2017 with the Fall Festival at Helsinki, Finland. 

Twitter user and self-professed Frank Ocean fan @justinwuah aptly tweeted “being a frank ocean stan is among the top 2 most painful things in this world because oh my god”.

Even before Coachella, Ocean has professed his love for half-screen performances before. His haunting performance of Forrest Gump at the 2013 Grammys is a prominent case in point. 

And while Ocean is known for his artistic experiments, he hasn’t resorted to such visual tricks at concerts. Another infuriated Frank Ocean fan, Oakland-based artist Emeka Okafor Jr summed it up well, 

Frank’s knee 

Frank Ocean still deserves sympathy from fans for Rolling Stone US states that a source told them Ocean was actually suffering from a knee injury. Ocean reportedly sustained this injury a week before the April 16 concert and this is why the on-stage production had to be drastically altered. 

This would explain why Ocean wore slippers on stage and performed more than half of his set sitting down.

But then again, he notably didn’t sing a few tracks off his setlist, lip-syncing or just “vibing” on the stage when they were being played. These tracks include Chanel, Nights and the first half of Nikes. 

Redditor Franks-bowl on the Frank Ocean subreddit (r/frankocean) commented, “Some songs he literally didn’t even perform, he danced around on stage lip syncing to a CAMERA. I’d be mad too if I paid 1000 [US$] for that.”

But what was that DJ set? 

Ocean’s injury is reason enough for the performance to be altered but onlookers and fans are still confused on why his concert included the 6-song DJ set by Crystall Mess. The set which included remixes of Chanel, Nights and Nikes (again) largely received negative reactions from the fanbase. 

The sad truth behind the performance

Despite Coachella blocking the livestream, many fans went on Instagram live to record snippets of the concert with many such short videos available on r/frankocean.

The shared videos and comments made it possible to piece together Ocean’s comments in between the songs. The concert still allowed Ocean to clear the air around a potential new album.

To the dismay of his fans, he said during his polarising performance, 

The artist then added the real reason behind his Coachella appearance was the connection that he and his late brother Ryan Breaux had with the festival.

Talking about Ryan, who died in a car crash in 2020, Ocean said, “My brother and I came to this festival a lot. I feel like I was dragged by him sometimes because I didn’t want to get a respiratory infection...”

Ocean recalled the live Rae Sremmurd and Travis Scott performances that he had enjoyed with his brother at Coachella. 

Keeping the injury and Ocean’s personal tragedy in mind, some fans were still sympathetic towards Ocean despite the Coachella fiasco. Canadian singer Justin Bieber also joined in the support calling his artistry “unmatchable” and added that he was “blown away” by his performance. 

As Frank Ocean fan and Twitter user @heyitsza12 summed it up, 

Oceanographers rejoice! Coachella Week 2!

Coachella’s second week will also be ended by Frank Ocean. So, fans of the Chanel hitmaker are still looking forward to something that would undo the mess that April 16 became. 

Music insiders and concertgoers are already predicting that an ice skating stage set will be a part of the second week’s performance. But keeping Ocean’s track record in mind, there are still chances of his sophomore show at Coachella 2023 turning into another artistic experiment. 

Meanwhile, you can still cop your Frank Ocean merch from mysterious online thrift stores as the Coachella people cannot show off their finds in front of you. As it turns out, Ocean fans faced the earliest signs of disappointment right when the official merch stands were adorned with signs reading “NO FRANK OCEAN MERCHANDISE”.