Frank Ocean’s highly anticipated return had fans in shambles when he did not perform the way they expected him to. His headlining at the Coachella Valley Music Festival had fans traveling from all over the country to come to see him perform after being M.I.A for roughly 7 years. Upon his performance, Coachella crew members buzzed around the front stage behind a screen where they quickly adjusted to the last-minute changes for Ocean’s stage setup. Earlier that day, fans who were unable to attend the festival were furious when Coachella announced that his performance would not be live-streamed as they had planned.
My friends and I arrived at the Coachella Stage at around 2 p.m. where Frank Ocean would be performing and waited nearly 9 hours for him to come out so we had the best view of the stage possible. Plenty of other fans who arrived as soon as the gates opened at 12 p.m. rushed to the stage to be “barricade” for the event and fervently waited 11 hours for him to arrive. Ocean was set to perform at 10:05 p.m., but when the clock struck 10:06 p.m. fans quickly realized that he would be late. While crew members scurried around trying to set up the stage as quickly as they could, and simultaneously fix technical difficulties fans grew worried and wondered if he would even come out. I remember being exhausted after waiting in the sun all day but told myself it would be worth the wait, and it was.
Frank Ocean finally took the stage at 11 p.m. seemingly anxious but also excited. He opened with his hit single from Nostalgia Ultra “Novacane,” and I was starstruck. I could not believe that I had finally gotten the chance to hear him sing live after being a fan for so many years. From there, he began singing more of his music — even some unreleased songs. It was exhilarating getting to hear all of what he has been into lately, such as DJing and mixing most of his mainstream tracks.
After playing a few songs he expressed to the crowd the main reason he decided to perform at Coachella. He wanted his fans to know that he had suffered an extreme loss and was grieving the death of his younger brother, Ryan Breaux, who had passed away in a car accident in 2020. He recalled the times his brother dragged him out to the festival where they would watch Ryan’s favorite artists together.
“I know he would have been so excited to be here with all of us,” said Ocean.
At this moment, I believe that the audience should have shifted their expectations for the performance and been more accepting and sympathetic to the way he decided to use his creative expression as a way to execute the journey of emotions he experienced after losing someone close to him.
Ocean included a 10-minute DJ intermission during his performance and stated that he wanted to acknowledge everyone who contributes to his new outlet of musical expression, Homer Radio. Ocean wanted everyone to recognize that there are plenty of other musical entities who deserve appreciation beyond him. While my friends and I danced around to the flavorful mixes of his past music, it was overwhelmingly noticeable that most of the crowd was confused. They began critiquing it subtly with their faces that screamed “WTF?”
The group of self-proclaimed “Frank Ocean’s fans,” expecting him to give an exuberant Michael Jackson-esque performance, was confusing to me and a small percentage of other fans. It was never in his nature to exude that type of energy, and although there were moments of messiness, they were outweighed by the moments of pure ecstasy I felt while he played newer versions of older songs we all loved.
After an hour and 20 minutes of his performance, Ocean got on the microphone after walking off stage to announce that Coachella’s curfew would no longer allow him to keep performing. Fans began shouting “one more song,” and “We want Frank!” When they eventually discerned that he was no longer coming out, they began booing at the stage. Hearing that shocked me because I believed that was one of the best performances I had ever experienced. The stage setup along with the monolithic screen capturing Frank throughout his performance was beautiful.
Hopping on social media after the concert I was surprised to see all of the hate he had been receiving. Fans who had watched the concert through a third-party stream were saying “how could he treat us like that” and “what he did was so unacceptable.” In my head, I immediately recollected all my memories trying to find out what he did wrong. He performed just as he said he would, I thought to myself. Why was he not meeting their expectations of what they pictured in their imaginations?
Frank Ocean’s fans and plenty of other “stan groups” have become entitled, forgetting that he is able to make any changes in his expression of music because it’s his. Frank has gone through many life-changing experiences since his last performance, which is why I feel he decided to take his style on a new path. It was a lose-lose situation for him as it seemed his fans were never satisfied with his work. The execution of his artistic talents should have been more appreciated and fans should have respected the new themes of music that he had been exploring.