Frank Ocean pulls out of Coachella weekend 2 headline slot after controversial first performance
Frank Ocean has pulled out of his headline performance at Coachella's second weekend.
Last week, Frank closed out the festival's first weekend, with the last slot on its third day. Much-hyped - he had originally been booked to perform in 2020 before the pandemic forced the festival to be cancelled, and hasn't performed live since 2017 - the resulting set was highly divisive between both fans and critics.
A representative for the enigmatic auteur confirmed to Rolling Stone on Wednesday night that Frank was pulling out of Coachella's second weekend, due to sustaining two fractures and a sprain in his leg.
In a statement, Frank Ocean said: "It was chaotic. There is some beauty in chaos. It isn’t what I intended to show but I enjoy being out there and I’ll see you soon."
MORE: Frank Ocean's Official Charts history in full
This follows rampant speculation that something, somewhere went terribly wrong in the run-up to Ocean's live return; he arrived on the stage an hour later than planned, so deep in a crowd of walking performers that he wasn't easy to spot, while the set itself saw him rip through several of his classics (Novacane, Pink + White) with new mixes, while a large portion of the set saw him forgo singing altogether, instead miming along to a DJ set.
Rumours spread that several last minute changes were made to the performance, such as the late-in-the-day scrapping of a planned ice skating rink in the centre of the stage, the resulting fuss contributing to the set's dislocated feel.
According to Variety, pop-punk icons Blink-182 will replace Frank and close out the second weekend. In a statement, representatives of Frank Ocean said: "After suffering an injury to his leg on festival grounds in the week leading up to weekend one, Frank Ocean was unable to perform the intended show but was still intent on performing, and in 72 hours, the show was reworked out of necessity.
"On doctor's advice, [Ocean] is not able to perform weekend two due to two fractures and a sprain in his left leg."
It's now been over a decade since Frank dropped his last album, his magnum opus Blonde, in 2016. The labyrinthine, genre-bending LP debuted at Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart, giving Frank his first chart-topping UK album.
Rumours swirled that new music was imminent giving his high-profile Coachella return, and while Frank did basically confirm a new record from him is in the works, nothing has appeared yet. He last released two one-off singles, Cayendo and Dear April, in 2020.
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Delenn Moresby
I quote ‘ It's now been over a decade since Frank dropped his last album, his magnum opus Blonde, in 2016.’
Am I to take it that a journalist at Official Charts is unaware that a decade is 10 years?
Seriously, I’ve tolerated some dreadful errors from these pages, generally caused by an embarrassing lack of research, but getting the length of a decade wrong is beyond ridiculous.