Frank Ocean Coachella Set Cut Short Due to Curfew – Watch
Frank Ocean's highly anticipated Coachella performance was cut short due to the festival's curfew.
On Sunday (April 16), Frank Ocean took the stage as the headlining act on night three of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival's first weekend at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, Calif. After racking up insurmountable hype by reportedly starting the performance about an hour late, Frank Ocean ended his set abruptly much to the disappointment of his loyal legion on fans. The Long Beach, Calif. native says he was required to shut things down as a result of the festival's time constraints.
"Guys, I'm being told it's curfew so that's the end of the show," Frank Ocean can be heard saying in the video below while a chorus of boos erupts from the crowd. "Thank you so much."
In the hours leading up to Frank Ocean's first live performance in many years, Coachella themselves added to the allure of the elusive artist's rare concert by interviewing fans around the festival grounds. Concertgoers were quick to express their excitement by listing a number of their favorite Frank Ocean songs that they'd like to see him perform including, "Self Control," "White Ferrari" and "Pilot Jones," among many others.
Despite the buzz around the Coachella festival itself, a certain amount of disappointment regarding Frank Ocean's Coachella performance began on social media even before the "Novacane" crooner hit the stage late. Around the exact time Ocean was originally scheduled to begin his set, it was announced that, unlike the rest of the weekend's shows, Sunday night's headlining performance would not be streamed live via YouTube.
"Frank Ocean is not scheduled to appear on the Coachella livestream," YouTube's official Twitter account announced.
With internet users being made aware that only those in attendance at Coachella will be able to view the rare Frank Ocean concert, fans began to flood social media with a deep sense of disappointment and frustration.
"What do you mean Frank Ocean's set won't be livestreamed, WTF #Coachella?" one user tweeted accompanied by a video of a man punching a computer screen.
Another social media user hinted at being forced to watch the Coachella set via bootleg video clips shared by others.
"Me watching Frank Ocean through a random IG Live," they tweeted along with a blurry, pixelated meme.
Once Frank Ocean actually did take the stage more than an hour after his scheduled time, many in attendance at Coachella hit up social media with clips of the California crooner performing intimate versions of some of his biggest songs such as "Nights" and "Godspeed."
However, the second word began to spread online that Frank Ocean told the crowd the show was over due to curfew, social media users began to meet the news with more disappointment.
"I have never been happier that I didn't waste my money to see Frank Ocean end Coachella like this," one twitter user posted along with a clip of Ocean ending the set abruptly. "Horrific lmao."
Frank Ocean's seemingly deflated Coachella performance capped off the iconic festival's first weekend, which included sets from Pusha T, GloRilla and Bad Bunny, among dozens more. Despite not releasing a full-length project since 2016's Blonde, Frank Ocean was set to headline Coachella back in 2020, but the performance was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.