Lip-Syncing, No Live Streams And An Abandoned Ice Rink

Topline

The singer’s highly anticipated Coachella performance took social media by storm—but largely because the performance, which was marred by a late start, obvious lip-syncing, last-minute stage redesigns and a reported ankle injury, disappointed fans who have waited six years for Ocean to return to the stage.

Frank Ocean attends The 2019 Met Gala. (Photo by Theo Wargo/WireImage)

WireImage

Key Facts

Ocean took the stage Sunday as one of this year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival headliners, three years after he was originally set to perform at the 2020 festival, which was delayed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Disappointment first struck when YouTube tweeted on Sunday that Ocean’s performance—unlike nearly every other performance at Coachella—would not be livestreamed, meaning fans who didn’t attend the festival in person would miss the opportunity to see Ocean return to the stage (or would have to rely on low-quality social-media videos filmed by audience members).

The performance then began nearly an hour after the scheduled start time and ended after only about an hour because of a curfew the city of Indio, California and Coachella organizer Goldenvoice agreed to.

During the performance, Ocean chose to lip-sync some of his songs without even a microphone in hand, took long pauses between songs, sometimes sat with his back to the crowd, and at certain points handed the show over to a DJ for a 10-minute interlude and to a piano-playing young boy whom Ocean said represents his “inner child.”

Ocean was difficult to see throughout the performance: Variety reported he was at times blocked from view by onstage dancers, seated too far back on the stage and sometimes not shown on the large video screens.

As social media users fiercely debated Ocean’s performance in the following days, new details came to light about his set: Ocean reportedly injured his ankle during rehearsals and scrapped plans for an onstage ice rink at the last minute, which led to delays as Coachella employees had to melt the already-prepared ice.

One hundred local hockey players were reportedly set to join Ocean’s performance on ice, but instead were employed as background dancers after the ice rink plan was abandoned.

Ocean seldom spoke to the crowd while performing, but at one point explained he decided to headline Coachella because he and his brother, who died in a car accident in 2020, used to attend the festival together.

Chief Critics

Ocean’s performance was met with disappointment, particularly from fans who attended the festival to see him perform. In one TikTok with more than 1 million likes, a fan who saw Ocean’s performance said some fans felt “scammed” because Ocean was late and difficult to see while onstage. In another video liked nearly 700,000 times, a fan said Ocean was “not bringing much to the whole performance,” which fell short of the high expectations fans had, and claimed they and many others left early. The fan noted the performance was especially disappointing for those who traveled long distances just to see Ocean. Some reviews of Ocean’s performance were critical: Variety called Ocean’s set a “disappointing mess,” citing low energy, “bizarre” pacing and the late start. The Guardian considered his set “a rollercoaster ending in disappointment” and gave his performance three out of five stars, praising his vocals but criticizing “moments of confusion” like his lip-syncing and the “inner child” performance.

Contra

Some fans and publications defended Ocean’s performance as fitting with his elusive image, with some noting the performance may have been difficult and personal as he dedicated it to his late brother. The Los Angeles Times praised Ocean’s singing as “magnificent” and noted his set was “willfully enigmatic” and reaffirmed his “talents as a vocalist and a teller of complicated stories.” GQ wrote Ocean’s performance was “special” and a “form of mourning,” speculating this informed Ocean’s choices including the last-minute redesign. “Why fans of the elusive musician’s insular music would necessarily expect him to put on a rollicking show raises a lot of different concerns here, but the show he did put on—frenzied, messy, full of grief—had so many moments of ecstasy,” the GQ review states. Justin Bieber said he was “blown away” by Ocean’s performance in an Instagram post on Tuesday, praising his artistry and his voice, adding he was “deeply moved.”

Big Number

24. That’s how many songs Ocean included in his set. Six of these, mostly remixes of Ocean’s songs, were performed during the DJ interlude. Ocean’s setlist included some of his biggest hits, like “Nikes,” “Pink + White” and “Nights.”

Key Background

Ocean first rose to prominence as a member of the hip hop group Odd Future, which launched the careers of several musicians, including Tyler the Creator and Earl Sweatshirt. As a solo artist, Ocean is a two-time Grammy Award winner known for his successful, critically acclaimed albums Channel Orange and Blonde. Ocean has long been known for being elusive: Besides not performing since 2017, he hasn’t released any music since 2016, his Instagram has zero posts and he rarely does interviews.

Tangent

Though many fans were likely hoping Ocean would perform or announce new music, he confirmed a new album is on the way but “not right now.”

Surpising Fact

Coachella was fined $117,000 by Indio, California for breaking curfew on all three nights of its opening weekend. Ocean’s set went over time by about 25 minutes, and Friday and Saturday’s sets went over by more than 20 minutes each. Violating curfew—1 a.m. for Friday and Saturday, and midnight on Sunday—by five minutes results in a $20,000 daily fine with an additional $1,000 fine per minute

What To Watch For

How will Ocean’s second Coachella performance differ from the first—if at all? He’s set to take the stage again Sunday night, closing out the festival in its second weekend.