Sleepy Bieber and YouTube blackout; unravelling the drama after Frank Ocean’s performance at Coachella 2023

It’s been called both an enigmatic performance and an embarrassing performance; but Frank Ocean’s appearance at last weekend’s Coachella, closing out the first of a two-weekend festival in the United States, has still got everyone talking, and everyone wondering if his second appearance this weekend will be anything like the first - if he does indeed shows up. 

His set had already seen a number of moments go viral on TikTok, but none more fervent today than the video showing Justin Bieber apparently “falling asleep” while watching Frank Ocean - despite Bieber later taking to social media to exclaim how much he loved the set and how important of an influence Ocean has been on Bieber’s later stages of his career. This is despite the footage showing Bieber seemingly drifting off during the set, with wife Hailey Bieber rubbing his back in a soothing fashion.

Maybe Justin was just really vibing with the music so much that he just closed his eyes to feel the emotion throughout Frank Ocean’s music.

With his first performance in six years, and contending still with the death of his brother Ryan Moore after a car accident in 2020, there was a lot of anticipation for the R&B star’s performance at the festival, considered a comeback of sorts for the “Channel Orange” artist. What fans got was, according to a number of reviews, a “beautiful car crash” for some and for others a reason for him to hurry up with his next album in the view of a couple of Twitter users. 

The drama began even before he took to the stage, as Coachella announced through Twitter that the planned live-stream of Frank Ocean’s set would not be appearing on their YouTube channel. That first elicited the ire of those who were looking forward to seeing his comeback from the comfort of their own home, though an artist not wishing to be live-streamed during their performances is not a new occurrence - Prince in 2008 prohibited his performance at the festival to be streamed to audiences at home. The pragmatists among us however chalked that up to a concern over intellectual property rights, owing to the adage that if it's on the internet, it’s there for life. 

Combine that with sources revealing to Variety that the Frank Ocean performance was never going to be live-streamed and it was assumed it would all come together before the day of the event would be more on the festival and YouTube not making that explicitly clear, and falling for the trap of what assumption makes many of us when we choose to assume. 

That then led to overall reviews of the performance from those who were in attendance; the set was meant to take place at 10:05pm but was delayed for an hour due to what was later referred to as “technical difficulties,” with Ocean then proceeding to perform some of his fan favourite songs with different musical arrangements instead of the tried-and-true singalong standards many “expected” (nee: hoped) would take place at his comeback performance. 

Those technical difficulties, according to Variety, have two theories behind them; the first being that the elaborate stage set-up that was to include an ice rink and ice skaters performing while Frank Ocean took to the stage  “was adjusted at the last minute to account for an ankle injury the singer sustained during on-site rehearsals in the week leading up to the festival,” though those same sourced state it was from a cycling accident around the festival site than during a rehearsal performance.

The other theory is that Frank Ocean decided at the last minute the ice rink idea was impractical. Via the Festive Owl, their sources stated “Frank decided at the last minute that he no longer wanted it at all. All of the people walking around him at the start of the performance were actually ice skaters, had been practising for weeks, and were supposed to be skating as part of the production.” 

“Coachella had to deconstruct the approved stage (that had been planned and signed off on for months in advance) + melt the entire ice rink and then set it up how Frank decided today with no warning. Which is what you ended up seeing, and caused the hour-long delay. This all happened when doors had already opened for Sunday, and people were securing their spots to see him. If the last minute changes weren’t made he wouldn’t have performed at all — leaving the festival without a closing headliner.”

In the case of either theory, should Frank Ocean have felt like the safety of his backing performers, himself or the audience themselves might have been at risk, then credit needs to be given to him despite the delay in his set. His apparent lackadaisical demeanour on stage, sitting throughout most of his performance except when a DJ appeared midway through to play some tracks, could owe into the sources stating he did injure his ankle in the lead up to his performance. 

That inclusion of a DJ set partway through his performance was also seemed off kilter regarding the expectations many leading into the set; to the point that many thought that Ocean had finished up his set early and the DJ was the festival equivalent of a DJ in a bar playing that one particular song to drive everyone out a venue before it closes. 

It very much seemed like a series of unfortunate events that were somewhat out of Frank Ocean’s control, and given the drama that followed him on the first night of what is set to be a two-night performance worth an estimated $2 million USD for the performer, could the hassle be the reason that people are now suggesting that he may not even attend his second performance? I guess we’ll have to wait and see - unfortunately, we won’t be able to on YouTube once again.