In Defense Of: Frank Ocean's Coachella
I am Frank's Strongest Soldier
Frank Ocean’s headlining set from a distance seemed to be a chaotic disaster. If you were online on Sunday, you for sure saw this rage, but if you were online on Monday the day after, hoooo boy, it was the wild west out there. A legendary artist came out of hiding and confused absolutely everyone. But what exactly even happened? Because the moment the livestream was cancelled, it seemed like almost the entire internet turned on Frank Ocean. Of course, this wouldn’t even be the first time that even happened. But I’m here to defend this man and the performance he gave. I’ve been seeing the massive internet pile-on Frank Ocean received and just been getting angry over so many of these comments about how he hates his fans to how he’s washed up. Or how he was lazy. Sorry but I’m here to g-check every single one of you. Because this was actually a great set, but it was definitely for actual fans of Frank Ocean. The real heads. How do I know this? Because everyone exposes themselves when saying this was all mellow. I’ll break down the set but also address the main points of contention.
Let’s back up a bit. Frank Ocean was announced as the Coachella headliner in 2020, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, that was cancelled and he was on the hook contractually to headline the festival somewhere down the line. Eventually, it was confirmed he would then headline the festival in 2023. Now ever since Blonde came out, back in 2016, we’ve had a trickle of new releases from Frank Ocean over the years. First was his was blonded radio project on Apple Music, where he premiered singles like Chanel and Calvin Harris’ Slide.
It was actually quite a productive time for Frank as he was doing a lot of work, from Endless and Blonde to all these new singles. He would then go out and release a number of singles that somewhat hinted towards a new album that never materialized. He would then sporadically drop songs when a new episode of his Blonded Radio would release. Other than that, he’s been busy opening a jewelry store and his own jewelry line. He has hinted at not wanting to release a full length but then has begun hinting again that he was interested in long-form material once more. It’s been a wild ride being a Frank Ocean fan, that is for sure. Oh, and the big kicker, Frank Ocean hasn’t performed live since 2017. The expectations for this set were huge.
So lets just talk about what the main problems this set had and what people took issue with.
The set was 1 hour late
Frank Ocean did not sing Nights, Nikes, Chanel, but they still played with Nikes actually being performed by the backing band. The vocals from the studio versions were played instead.
“Frank Ocean seemed like he didn’t want to be there”
It was difficult to see Frank Ocean outside of the main screen
There was a DJ set in the middle of the set
Abrupt ending
Lets just go over these.
1. The Set was 1 Hour Late
Gonna be completely honest here. I absolutely do not care about this and have no idea why anyone else online does either. You were not there. From the reports on the ground I heard people talk about how punishing waiting an hour was and I’ve definitely been there. I still remember waiting for artists like Travis Scott at ACL before and it happens often so its almost like a coin flip. The important thing to note is people are using this excuse for his set being cut short. And yet, Rolling Stone reports that his set actually went over time and they played more music than originally planned.
So like yeah I don’t care. You also don’t see anyone whining about BlackPink and Calvin Harris being 30 minutes late (other than INSIDER) either. But yeah like how this affects anyone outside of the actual festival is just so confusing. YOU WERE NOT THERE! You were at home, watching an IG live stream or watching YouTube videos after. Cry me a river. As for those actually there, I feel them. I do. But damn that was some real tension everyone was feeling over there. Was he gonna show up? Was he going to bail? Well he showed up. You’re already there at the festival, what are you going to do, leave? Hell no!
2. Frank Ocean did not sing
Arguably the biggest issue everyone had with the set. This is quite literally the biggest point of contention. Towards the end of the show, Frank’s band or at the very least their drummer, started to perform Nikes (the first song off Blonde). There is no question that Nikes and later Nights are possibly Frank Ocean’s most well known songs. And they are incredibly beloved pieces of music. During the show though Frank Ocean would stop performing and one of his songs would play. This happened twice, not counting the DJ rave set. The first time was after Frank and the band performed Solo. A remixed version of Chanel started to play which would lead into the DJ Set. Later after an incredible acoustic version of Self Control was played, the same happened with Nikes and Nights.
Listen I’m not gonna beat around the bush on this one. This was a big miscalculation on Frank’s part on not singing some of his biggest songs. So I can definitely feel the frustration from the people who were disappointed. At the same time however, watching the video footage it almost seems like this is what Frank intended to do for this portion.
Somewhere around the 3:00 minute mark, Frank Ocean turns to the mic after just vibing along to Nights and Nikes and picks it up. He had already been letting the songs play and judging from multiple video sources was enjoying the fans singing along.
As he grabs the mic he makes this face and notices people singing, and places the mic down. I think he noticed this was more of a intimate moment for him and the fans and just decided to vibe out with everyone instead of singing live. This happens a lot in many types of shows, especially in pop and rap where the vocals are piped in. But this was the breaking point for many people in the audience and definitely for people online. Everyone was just sharing videos of Frank dancing and acting for the camera but not singing. This caused everyone to just shit all over him and say he hates his fans so much. But upon closer inspection of the actual footage, people did seem to be having fun and no one was booing. No one even seemed remotely upset at what was transpiring in front of them.
Now I think this small moment for the people in the audience was well intentioned from Frank Ocean, but he probably should have sang. At the same time, I won’t be surprised if he does the same thing next week. From conversations I’ve had with my cousin who was there and other people online, people generally were having a good time during this. There was definitely a disconnect between the performance, the fans in attendance and everyone else online. And this was just exacerbated by having no livestream and it was the end of the set. So people were furious that on top of no livestream, he didn’t sing Nikes, Nights or Chanel. Which caused the widespread hyperbole that Frank Ocean did not sing at all during his show. Despite how strong the show started and its adventurous experimental rave set, if you don’t send people home happy it could potentially ruin the entire evening for many. Was it disappointing? For sure, and he could’ve saved the whole thing if he had sang these, but hindsight is 20/20.
3. Frank Ocean did not want to be there
I’m sorry but this one was some ridiculous projection. Just because the guy was sitting down most of the time, and then dared to not sing his big songs at the end did not mean he didn’t want to be there. In fact, it looked like he was having fun on stage. He even said that he was having fun while acknowledging the chaos of his own show. He was jumping around, dancing a bit, laughing it up, talking to the fans and more. People point to how he didn’t apologize for being late, when was the last time you saw anyone apologize for being late. Like honestly, be for real. When he did talk to the audience he gave a heartfelt story about the real reason he was playing Coachella (it was for his brother) and even explained why he had a DJ set. You can’t tell me the smiles of this guy were fake or disingenuous. I also feel like this was just generally people saying this because he was only playing mellower songs. I just don’t think people online have ever listened to Frank Ocean outside of his singles. Started to see the real reason people online were upset was because they just didn’t want to listen or watch these intimate performances and wanted something more along the lines of a Bad Bunny set where he’s just playing the hits. You were never going to get that. The entitlement people have over a concert they didn’t even pay for is ridiculous.
The fans who were there had a much different story to tell though from the online conversation:
4. It was difficult to see Frank Ocean outside of the main screen
For sure I feel the frustration of everyone on this one though. With reports of an ice rink being melted away, it appears that the stage setup was significantly overhauled prior to the performance. The stage was then basically one big screen with a tiny window underneath that was covered by stage lighting and people walking sometimes so it was hard to actually see what was happening. But on the big screen, you had basically the slickest camera in the world essentially record live what was happening and it felt so unique and interesting. Its not the first time, Frank Ocean has done this and it just seemed to be a natural continuation of live filming his own show and basically tell a story. But immediately there were claims of pretentiousness and how he was forcing himself to be weird and special and different.
But like, have you guys not listened or even seen anything by Frank Ocean? This is the man that disappointed millions already by dropping Endless on Apple Music, a much more experimental project before serving the main dish, which was Blonde, a day later. Frank Ocean has always played by his rules and brought people along to see his art. Whether its slowly assembling a make-shift wooden staircase for his visual album or its just lavishly recording this performance for the rest to see. He makes big artistic statements. Plus the effect of the footage on the big connected screen just frankly (lol), looked cool! It looked great! Also he was able to achieve this more intimate setting because of the stage setup. Watching videos you can hear a pin drop, people are absolutely arrested by the beautiful footage on screen the whole way through, in my opinion.
5. There was a DJ set in the middle of the set
Pacing can absolutely hinder a concert performance. The setlist needs to be right but especially at Coachella people tend to try bigger experiments. Frank Ocean was on the main stage and treated everyone to a mini rave DJ set that last around less than 10 minutes. The conversation online turned on the DJ set for ruining the whole thing and not letting Frank Ocean perform more.
This was absolutely, the biggest gamble of the night. Prior to 2020, Frank Ocean had come back out of the shadows and started promoting his own club nights in New York as well as highlighting underground DJs that he really liked. It seemed like it would culminate in bigger and bigger parties and raves around the world, including 2020’s cancelled Coachella. The footage online does show people somewhat confused as to what is happening, but at the same time there are people into it. It was definitely confusing, but my cousin was telling me that it was actually a lot of fun and a nice change of pace. I think this DJ set would’ve been much more warmly received if Frank had sung Nikes and Nights though, since I think people’s anger was redirected towards this. It was fun, short and sweet. And afterwards Frank came out to explain what that was all about:
After a quick laugh, and explaining how it was fun despite being chaotic, Frank just started talking about the parties and the music he had been listening to and wanting to bring some of that to everyone here. And also, he joked about how he would give people this experience “A rave mix in the middle of a Frank Ocean show.” All in good fun, but I think people online took it in a different light.
6. Abrupt Ending
After Nights, Frank Ocean sat back down and performed At Your Best (You Are Love) off of Endless. Hardly any casual’s favorite song thanks to the visual album being locked to one platform, but beautiful regardless and showcases his incredible voice and range. But after this, Frank Ocean walked off to the side and then announced, almost too casually, that the show was now over due to curfew. Leaving everyone disappointed. I think this, alongside the Nikes/Nikes incident, was the final straw for the masses. In some videos you can hear people asking for the song Pyramids and a “We Want Frank” chant had begun. While this left people wondering if the set was cut short, again I point to the Rolling Stone article that says otherwise from earlier in this post.
I think the abrupt ending, left people with a sour taste in their mouths after an 80 minute performance. There’s not really much to say than, he should’ve planned a much stronger ending to his show for everyone to leave happy. But since it was abrupt, people now have to basically pick up the pieces and figure out just what it was that they experienced. This, alongside the Nights and Nikes thing, were the actual catalysts for the huge backlash this show has received in my opinion.
So, why was the show good?
Lets take a look at the setlist really quick. Other than a mistake (Chanel was a part of the start of the DJ set), this actually looks like a really decent show. Plus there were new versions of most of the songs played. Sure there isn’t a lot of new music (except for Come On World, You Can’t Go! but that is still unreleased), but there is power in these songs and in Frank’s very clear emotional voice. Novacane beginning the set with a new more rock version was so impressive to me. Its one of the first songs I ever knew from him and was so happy he was bringing at least something off of Nostalgia, Ultra. The rest of the set is basically a huge highlight for me. In fact the first 36 minutes are damn near perfect in my opinion.
And performing Crack Rock live, its just wild man. These are deep cuts off of Channel Orange. The restraint to not play bigger songs like Thinking about You or Pyramids was crazy. The way the band sounded so tight and everything just sounds perfect. Crack Rock had to be restarted quickly, but you can hear the excitement when the first notes play on the full version of the concert.
I had mentioned Come On World, You Can’t Go! already, but this was a surprise song that he dropped on Christmas 2021 and the song is centered around the grief that Frank has been going through after the death of his younger brother due to a car crash in 2020. This is such a powerful song, and I’m sure people online didn’t actually want to pay attention to it since it feels like it meanders a bit. But pay closer attention to the words that Frank Ocean is saying, and the haunting minimal piano in the background. It is just so beautiful and moving. Frank having such a delicate song about this at a big festival may not mean much to the layman, but for those that do know it means the world. Go into the comments and you’ll see what I mean:
It doesn’t end there though. The new version of White Ferrari was absolutely incredible too. And at this point I’m probably going to start listing all the songs. I will just say that I personally teared up listening to this version of White Ferrari, Pink + White, and Self Control. These are just such powerful songs and to hear them in a different context and vibe is just incredible. The beat on this version is actually on the studio version of the track and it seems so out of place at first but once Frank’s vocals kick in everything comes into focus. The way this enhances the original and especially for a such a live setting really works. It is very audacious on how he chose to present these songs from Blonde. I don’t think a single one matched their studio version at all.
I think people are just not really fans of Frank Ocean on a big mainstream level like that. Frank played music from his entire career output (I guess minus some real real deep cuts from before Nostalgia, Ultra), but he hit on almost everything. Whether it was Channel Orange, to Endless, to Blonde and even his unreleased music he premiered on his radio show. I think people’s expectations were so high that anything other than a huge bombastic set would have disappointed them. Despite stage issues, they were able to pull off a very unique stage setup and yeah maybe it would’ve been cool (I guess) to see Ice Skaters, but the show must go on.
Take this new acoustic version of Self Control. Such a beautiful song already, but this new version brings it to new heights. There is a vulnerability on display here that is just unmatched by anyone that entire weekend. The way he sings this in high notes, and the way people are just in awe. I know I would have been.
And go on it did. I think Frank remains a very charismatic performer and being able to enrapture so many people to have this very intimate show was absolutely wild. He played so many deep cuts man! This was a show for the real fans of Frank Ocean. People can say, oh he sounded like shit and was boring, all they want. That is a clear indicator to me that these people have never even listened to Frank Ocean, but actually listen to him, once in there lives.
Was Coachella main stage the right place for this? YES! It is so brave and courageous to go out there and do your own thing. The fact that he did this on the biggest festival, on the biggest stage, in the world is so fucking cool to me. How can it not? Its extremely punk to just say fuck it, experimental set. And even then, was it even that experimental? That would be for the normal people to decide. And I’m not normal.
So yeah I thought this set was really damn cool. It takes bravery to do what he did and perform how he does. On his own terms. Even people who were “disappointed” walked away saying it was their favorite set of the entire weekend.
There is something to be said about the exclusivity of this performance too. This is not a feeling people younger than me are going to have. These days we have everything readily available. Music as an artform, I’m going to be completely honest, is absolutely disrespected and not given the proper time to actually analyze and dig into what makes it so good. Everyone wants it to be easy too. Just simple, play it and then forget about it. I already forgot about the Bad Bunny and BlackPink sets from the weekend. But I am still thinking about the Frank Ocean set. And it was because it was different. It was UNIQUE. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience (well maybe twice in a lifetime if he plays this weekend, which I’m sure he will).
Edit (4/19/2023 5:15 PM CST): Frank Ocean has cancelled his weekend 2 performance due to leg injury.
But what about Coachella and the staff that worked so hard on the alleged ice rink original setup? How dare Frank not advise the powers that be earlier! I feel for the people who spent hours on whatever original setup that was happening. I really do. Nothing sucks more than tearing down something you just built up because someone didn’t like it. I think the way they were able to make the stage as it was presented was very cool though. I loved the cameras. I loved how lavish and expensive it looked. It felt like an event. Like yeah I feel sorry for the ice skaters, but also not really cuz plans changed and I’m sure they were compensated. As for Coachella itself. Dude, cry me a river.
They have enough money to cover any curfew fees, anything about the staff and the performers as well.
People are going to say whatever they want to say about this show regardless. The mass narrative is already out there and people are just mindlessly parroting things from unofficial sources and painting an increasingly negative picture. Personally I feel like this is just wrong, and I choose to side with the independent artist over the people on the internet and Coachella staff. Sure, there were people who were disappointed at the festival, that is a guarantee. Coachella is one of the biggest and most mainstream music festivals in the world. The other wrinkle is that Coachella is also the premier influencer event of the year. Everyone wants to go and meet people, and you always hear how they’re not there for the music but instead content.
After watching the full Coachella set more than 5 times, it just gets better every time. The people who aren’t into it, I’m sorry but you just cannot hang. People are obviously upset and its tied to their massive expectations. But that is on them. The man deserves the respect for getting out there and doing something different. It doesn’t always work and it won’t resonate with everyone, but is he amazing. He is pushing the boundaries on live performance and being experimental as well while also giving you a window into his process and how he is feeling.
That’s how I felt about the whole thing. I was angry seeing all these posts disrespecting Frank Ocean, but I am just even more excited to see what he brings next.