Frank Ocean 4.16.2023
Up until the week before these events took place, I was fully ready to be one of the people on the YouTube Livestream waiting for Frank Ocean to take the stage. However, it was until my friend from Los Angeles was visiting Spokane, when one conversation led to another and I was invited to Coachella as they had an extra ticket that I could use for free. I had never been to a music festival before, but with Frank Ocean being one of my favorite artists I was willing to book a flight to Los Angeles that week. The week leading up to it, it still didn’t feel real that I was going to see the most elusive and popular artists ever. His first show in seven years with little to no music released in that timeframe. I wasn’t able to attend all three days of the festival, but only for Sunday, the day Frank Ocean would be performing. With a three hour drive there and the three hour drive back we would complete on the way back after the show that would get us back to Los Angeles more towards 4 am, we woke up and got ready for the day. I ended up borrowing my entire outfit from my friend and headed out for the festival at about eleven in the morning. As we’re driving there we are headed down I-10 East which is a highway that is filled with billboards that artists put up to promote their sets at Coachella. As we’re driving there, I’m seeing some of my favorite artists' billboards and am taking photos outside of the car like a proud mom would. Already cheesing from cheek to cheek, I begin to feel a sense of uneasiness as we pull into Indio, California and are now looking for parking. We finally find a spot parking lots away from the festival and begin to walk over to the festival. Walking with everyone else from the festival all dressed up in what felt like costumes, I began to see the famous landmarks of Coachella I have only ever seen photos and completely forgot would be here as I was so preoccupied thinking about the artists I would be seeing. I see the rainbow tower and balloons overhead as I’m passing through security and make my way in. I’m taking it all in and walking around the festival grounds, seeing all of the stages and casually watching artists perform from only a few hundred yards away.
It began to really set in that I will soon be seeing the one artist I have always told myself I would drain my bank account to see. As the sun went down and the sweat from the day is starting to cool off, I find myself catching my breath from all of the dust and am understanding why so many people are wearing bandanas like masks. We are watching A Boogie wit da Hoodie finish up his set as we begin to set for Frank Ocean where we meet up with our other friends in the crowd settling in to see Ocean take the stage. After shouldering our way into the crowd and establishing a clear view of the stage that is a huge screen with only a slit at the bottom that is big enough for maybe one band with no walk way into the crowd or even stage in front of it, I am checking the time to see how much longer until it starts. Half an hour, easy, that’s not too bad. Soon enough he’s fifteen minutes late, I’m beginning to wonder where he is, and even excusing him as he was supposed to be out right on time.
Another half hour goes by, and I’m beginning to think that Frank Ocean is not going to come out. The lights begin to flash and dim as I am now staring directly at the video board and cut out down below trying to make out if I am seeing anyone walk out. All of sudden Ocean’s famous song, “Novacane” begins to play over the speaker and he is wearing a bright blue durag, rain jacket and slides as he sits down at the microphone to perform his first song. After his first performance, stands up to address the crowd and explains why he is there. He begins to talk about his deceased brother who passed away in 2020 due to a drunk driving accident. He is recounting memories with his brother at Coachella and is saying he is only there for him and not to promote any new music. The entire festival grounds is quiet in between his sentences as he composes himself before starting his next sentence. I can’t even see Frank Ocean from where I am standing and am solely relying on the video board to project what it is no one can see from the audience. From the beginning, it was apparent that he did not want to be there at all. He made himself invisible on stage by performing behind a group of people simply walking in front of the band that was already tucked behind the video board. Although, I was relying on the video board to serve as my basis of viewing to see what was really going, I was still able to see the performance unfold before me and feel the uniqueness of its existence in this space and time with the rest of the festival attendees. It was also clear as the performance was going on and Frank Ocean was becoming more and more difficult to see and only performed two songs in what would be his last thirty minutes of his performance, it was unclear what Ocean was trying to say with his performance, but the interpretation done by those in person was up to each person individually. It was confusing to understand the essence of the performance and why Frank Ocean was behaving and performing this way, this led to many people, including my friends to leave in the middle of the most anticipated performance of the entire weekend while I was thoroughly enjoying each minute and would go on to tell everyone it was the best performance I have ever seen. Even though there were many long, awkward pauses between songs of Ocean visibly talking to personnel on stage and band members as the people waited for the next song or any context of what was going on, I was reading this all to be enjoyable and almost an encapsulation of Frank Ocean’s persona to the public, it felt fitting to everything that has led up to this point and felt perfectly fine watching this enigmatic performance. The moment I’ve come to learn was the tipping point for many festival-goers was about forty minutes into the set after barely being able to see Ocean on stage, he gave up control to a DJ, CRYSTALMESS, that would play remixed versions of his song as the video board was someone dressed as a security guard dancing and twerking and Ocean was nowhere to be found.
The concert ended abruptly when, offstage, Ocean was talking into the mic and told the crowd that he was informed they have reached curfew and the concert must end. This came after Ocean played two of his biggest songs, “Nights” and “Nikes” over the speakers but didn’t actually perform them. He was dancing, singing along with the crowd and actually was out in front of the band and video board for all to see him the happiest when he wasn’t actually performing. The lights went on and it was over within thirty seconds. Not once did I know where the concert was going to go or if he would even play another song after one ended given the long pauses and him leaving the stage every time. From his clear attitude of not wanting to be there given his low-effort attire that was a rain jacket, sweats, slides and a durag to his constant hiding behind his band and giving up the stage for twenty minutes to a DJ, I began to feel empathy for Ocean. It was clearer than day he was there because he had to be or was even there for his deceased brother as a form of grieving. Confusing as it was in person, I wasn’t even aware that he had taken down the livestream three hours before stepping on stage and that he wouldn’t even step on stage if it was going to be livestreamed. After being there in person, the discoordinated would have only been exacerbated through a livestream.
In the end, although I felt like it was an acceptable performance and enjoyed every minute of it I am aware that was not everyone's experience as there were many fans left with hurt feelings and let downs, I was still feeling let down by Frank Ocean for pulling the livestream and denying his entire fan base of seeing him on stage for the first time in seven years. Coming from a place of power and privilege, he revoked his fans the one time he was going to put himself in the public eye he couldn’t even do that. It was very classist for Ocean to limit his performance to those with enough money and privilege who were able to attend Coachella. The discourse created through this act of removing the livestream is one that is resemblant of acting with privilege, classism and exclusivity that left many fans disappointed and critics denouncing his performance. Resemblant in the articles selected and many more published, there is a wide range of articles criticizing his performance perpetuating these discourses of privilege and talking harshly of the expectations he did not meet while some push for the opposite that are more fond of Frank Ocean with one the headlines reading “Frank Ocean Shows Us a More Human to Perform”.
Although there are counter-discourses that tend to lean more negative, the discourse that has stuck with this performance is that it was a mess in the end. The lack of livestream also left a reliance on the coverage by fans exhibiting panopticon, publishing videos of the elusive Frank Ocean and fans creating their own discourses and their own published content while at Coachella. In an age of surveillance through the use of smartphones, the denial of one form of viewership only led to another and even put more emphasis on the recreation of discourse and narrative through news articles.
It began to really set in that I will soon be seeing the one artist I have always told myself I would drain my bank account to see. As the sun went down and the sweat from the day is starting to cool off, I find myself catching my breath from all of the dust and am understanding why so many people are wearing bandanas like masks. We are watching A Boogie wit da Hoodie finish up his set as we begin to set for Frank Ocean where we meet up with our other friends in the crowd settling in to see Ocean take the stage. After shouldering our way into the crowd and establishing a clear view of the stage that is a huge screen with only a slit at the bottom that is big enough for maybe one band with no walk way into the crowd or even stage in front of it, I am checking the time to see how much longer until it starts. Half an hour, easy, that’s not too bad. Soon enough he’s fifteen minutes late, I’m beginning to wonder where he is, and even excusing him as he was supposed to be out right on time.
Another half hour goes by, and I’m beginning to think that Frank Ocean is not going to come out. The lights begin to flash and dim as I am now staring directly at the video board and cut out down below trying to make out if I am seeing anyone walk out. All of sudden Ocean’s famous song, “Novacane” begins to play over the speaker and he is wearing a bright blue durag, rain jacket and slides as he sits down at the microphone to perform his first song. After his first performance, stands up to address the crowd and explains why he is there. He begins to talk about his deceased brother who passed away in 2020 due to a drunk driving accident. He is recounting memories with his brother at Coachella and is saying he is only there for him and not to promote any new music. The entire festival grounds is quiet in between his sentences as he composes himself before starting his next sentence. I can’t even see Frank Ocean from where I am standing and am solely relying on the video board to project what it is no one can see from the audience. From the beginning, it was apparent that he did not want to be there at all. He made himself invisible on stage by performing behind a group of people simply walking in front of the band that was already tucked behind the video board. Although, I was relying on the video board to serve as my basis of viewing to see what was really going, I was still able to see the performance unfold before me and feel the uniqueness of its existence in this space and time with the rest of the festival attendees. It was also clear as the performance was going on and Frank Ocean was becoming more and more difficult to see and only performed two songs in what would be his last thirty minutes of his performance, it was unclear what Ocean was trying to say with his performance, but the interpretation done by those in person was up to each person individually. It was confusing to understand the essence of the performance and why Frank Ocean was behaving and performing this way, this led to many people, including my friends to leave in the middle of the most anticipated performance of the entire weekend while I was thoroughly enjoying each minute and would go on to tell everyone it was the best performance I have ever seen. Even though there were many long, awkward pauses between songs of Ocean visibly talking to personnel on stage and band members as the people waited for the next song or any context of what was going on, I was reading this all to be enjoyable and almost an encapsulation of Frank Ocean’s persona to the public, it felt fitting to everything that has led up to this point and felt perfectly fine watching this enigmatic performance. The moment I’ve come to learn was the tipping point for many festival-goers was about forty minutes into the set after barely being able to see Ocean on stage, he gave up control to a DJ, CRYSTALMESS, that would play remixed versions of his song as the video board was someone dressed as a security guard dancing and twerking and Ocean was nowhere to be found.
The concert ended abruptly when, offstage, Ocean was talking into the mic and told the crowd that he was informed they have reached curfew and the concert must end. This came after Ocean played two of his biggest songs, “Nights” and “Nikes” over the speakers but didn’t actually perform them. He was dancing, singing along with the crowd and actually was out in front of the band and video board for all to see him the happiest when he wasn’t actually performing. The lights went on and it was over within thirty seconds. Not once did I know where the concert was going to go or if he would even play another song after one ended given the long pauses and him leaving the stage every time. From his clear attitude of not wanting to be there given his low-effort attire that was a rain jacket, sweats, slides and a durag to his constant hiding behind his band and giving up the stage for twenty minutes to a DJ, I began to feel empathy for Ocean. It was clearer than day he was there because he had to be or was even there for his deceased brother as a form of grieving. Confusing as it was in person, I wasn’t even aware that he had taken down the livestream three hours before stepping on stage and that he wouldn’t even step on stage if it was going to be livestreamed. After being there in person, the discoordinated would have only been exacerbated through a livestream.
In the end, although I felt like it was an acceptable performance and enjoyed every minute of it I am aware that was not everyone's experience as there were many fans left with hurt feelings and let downs, I was still feeling let down by Frank Ocean for pulling the livestream and denying his entire fan base of seeing him on stage for the first time in seven years. Coming from a place of power and privilege, he revoked his fans the one time he was going to put himself in the public eye he couldn’t even do that. It was very classist for Ocean to limit his performance to those with enough money and privilege who were able to attend Coachella. The discourse created through this act of removing the livestream is one that is resemblant of acting with privilege, classism and exclusivity that left many fans disappointed and critics denouncing his performance. Resemblant in the articles selected and many more published, there is a wide range of articles criticizing his performance perpetuating these discourses of privilege and talking harshly of the expectations he did not meet while some push for the opposite that are more fond of Frank Ocean with one the headlines reading “Frank Ocean Shows Us a More Human to Perform”.
Although there are counter-discourses that tend to lean more negative, the discourse that has stuck with this performance is that it was a mess in the end. The lack of livestream also left a reliance on the coverage by fans exhibiting panopticon, publishing videos of the elusive Frank Ocean and fans creating their own discourses and their own published content while at Coachella. In an age of surveillance through the use of smartphones, the denial of one form of viewership only led to another and even put more emphasis on the recreation of discourse and narrative through news articles.
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