Frank Ocean at Coachella: A Reserved Superstar Makes His Long-Awaited Return

By wazup on April 17, 2023 Comments Closed / 84 views

Frank Ocean made his long-awaited return to the stage on Sunday with a headlining appearance at Coachella 2023.

After a lengthy delay of nearly an hour past the scheduled start time, Ocean rather modestly took the stage, facing away from the audience and towards his band. He chose to remain more controlled and insular, frequently removing himself from the stage and his own songs. His performance set up — an equipment-laden backdrop featuring a line of dancers doing pedestrian choreography — was visually stunning, quiet but intriguing. Swirling video cameras captured Frank in often perpetual motion, catching him when you least expect it and finding room to let the activity of the set’s inhabitants take the lead.

The initial portion of Ocean’s set included “Novacane,” “Bad Religion,” “and “Crack Rock” as well as the live debuts of “Come On World, You Can’t Go!”, “White Ferrari,” and “Florida.” A number of these songs boasted new arrangements: “Pink and White” became a gorgeous ethereal acoustic ballad, while “Solo” was sped up and treated like a late night club number.

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Mid-way through the performance, Ocean finally began to let his guard down and addressed the audience. He acknowledged that a new album is in the works, but it was not the reason he was playing. Instead, as Ocean explained, his performance served as something of a eulogy to his later brother, Ryan Breaux, who died in a car accident in 2020.

“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… I would always come here, and one of my fondest memories is watching Rae Sremmurd with my brother… and Travis [Scott] in that tent,” he said. “I know he would be so excited to be here with all of us. I want to say thank you for the support and the years and the love all this time. Now I’ll get back to the songs.”

Mid-way through the set, Ocean ceded the spotlight to DJ Crystal Mess, who performed an EDM interlude of Ocean’s own songs. “This is fucking chaotic, but so much fun,” Ocean exclaimed. “Looking back I feel like in 2020 when I was just starting to throw parties in little clubs in New York before shit started going down, I was having a good time listening to new music with DJs coming in on their shit… it’s become part of my weekly practice with Homer radio. It’s good that it’s not always all about me so I wanted to bring a little of that.”

Another unexpected twist came in the form of a young child named Josiah, who took the stage and played some of Ocean’s songs on piano. “This is Josiah. He’s playing my inner child,” Ocean explained.

Ocean himself eventually reclaimed the mic for the second part of the set, which included the live debut of Godspeed,” a new version of “Young Man,” and an acoustic rendition of “Self Control,” along with covers of Aretha Franklin’s “Night Life” and The Isley Brothers’ “At Your Best (You Are Love).” His set then came to an abrupt end when he informed the audience that he had gone past curfew.

It was far from a perfect performance, but it was certainly memorable. Elusive and enigmatic, forward-thinking and challenging, the set was a perfect representation of Ocean himself, and his often willingness to push the norms of live performance.

Sunday night’s set at Coachella marked Ocean’s first live performance in six years. The R&B crooner was originally booked to lead 2020’s COVID-canceled outing, and his top-billing was pushed back for another year when Coachella returned in 2022. According to the festival’s co-founder Paul Tollett, the postponement was due to Ocean not being available that April.

Until Sunday night, Ocean had been typically tight-lipped about his new music, which he’s revealed sporadically since his 2016 seminal sophomore LP, Blonde, and its preceding visual album, Endless. Over the interim, he shared a series of singles in 2017 and 2019, a dual-release in 2020 with “Dear April” and “Cayendo,” and most recently, a nine-minute piano ballad that debuted on the Christmas 2021 episode of his own blonded RADIO program. Elsewhere, Ocean opened a luxury goods company, called Homer, with a debut jewelry collection in 2021. The brand notably brought a $25,000 cock ring to market in August 2022.

As Sunday’s headliner, Ocean closed the first weekend of Coachella 2023, which boasted the historic headlining sets from Bad Bunny and BLACKPINK, the return of Blink-182, the first-ever live performance by Jai Paul, and more. You can check out all of our Coachella 2023 coverage here.

Frank Ocean Coachella Setlist:

Novacane (New Version)
Come On World, You Can’t Go! (Live Debut)
Crack Rock
Impietas / Deathwish (ASR) (Live Debut)
Bad Religion
White Ferrari (Live Debut, New Version)
Florida (Live Debut)
Pink + White (Acoustic)
Solo (New version)
Solo (Reprise)
Chanel
Godspeed (Live Debut)
Wise Man (New Version)
Night Life (Aretha Franklin cover)
Self Control (Acoustic)
At Your Best (You Are Love) (The Isley Brothers cover) (Live Debut)