Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Frank Ocean’s return to the stage surprised fans — and not in a good way

With Frank Ocean’s surprising drop-out from weekend two of Coachella, here’s everything that happened leading up to that moment.

A photo of Ocean in a suit and tie with a black jacket over it. He is smiling, holding a camera and pointing at something that is out of the frame.

Frank Ocean at a red carpet event at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2019. (Photo courtesy of Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

By Yvonne Abedi

Singer Frank Ocean made waves Wednesday night by announcing that he was pulling out as a headliner for the second weekend of the Coachella music festival. In a statement to TMZ, the singer’s team said he “suffered an injury on festival grounds a week leading up to the performance.”

The statement also said that Ocean performed during weekend one due to the fans’ anticipation of his performance,, but not in the capacity that he had planned to or that his fans had hoped to see.

The statement said that per his doctor’s orders, Ocean isn’t allowed to perform because of two fractures and a sprain in his left leg.

This past Sunday, Ocean took the stage for the first time in over six years. His return was highly anticipated, with fans traveling from all over the world to see his performance. He was set to headline Coachella in 2020, but due to COVID the festival was postponed leaving fans disappointed.

It was said that Ocean arrived over an hour late into his two hour set, which led to security having to end the show earlier than expected due to the strict curfew Coachcella has in place. Many fans had been camping in the sun since 12 p.m. that afternoon waiting for the singer to take the stage.

During the performance, he performed his first two songs behind the stage. Fans weren’t able to see him during the majority of the performance because of the unorthodox stage set-up. Fans stated that he could barely be seen on screen, blocked by the dancers on stage, and seated too far back on the stage.

He also left the stage or stopped performing multiple times during his set, leaving the audience in a sea of silence.

Festival-goers on TikTok shared that he only performed about five songs, the majority of which he lip-synced to while vibing around the stage, which left many fans saying they felt like they attended a listening party not a performance.

Many fans began to leave throughout his set because they felt as though it wasn’t worth it, and some even took to the internet to say they felt scammed.

According to Variety, his initial stage design was supposed to have an ice rink. However, at the last minute, Ocean had to make changes to the stage design due to an ankle injury he experienced during rehearsals, said TMZ.

According to the Festival Owl on Twitter, Ocean wouldn’t perform until the ice rink was melted down. This was said to have been the reason he was late to his set.

Fans who weren’t able to attend the show were also left disappointed after YouTube tweeted “Frank Ocean is not scheduled to appear on the Coachella live stream.” Many fans at the performance were resourceful and decided to live stream the show themselves for the fans at home.

Ocean has come out with a statement to TMZ about his drop from the festival saying, “It was chaotic. There is beauty in the chaos. It isn’t what I intended to show but I did enjoy being out there and I’ll see you soon.”

Ocean hasn’t announced plans to tour or perform again soon, as he alluded to in his previous statement, but this series of events may have scared potential concertgoers away.

Blink-182 is set to replace Ocean as the headliner this upcoming weekend.