Frank Ocean’s highly-anticipated Coachella set is SLAMMED by fans and critics after hour delay

Frank Ocean enraged fans when his Coachella headliner set was delayed by an hour and he was removed from the festival’s live stream.

The 35-year-old singer — who had arguably the weekend’s most anticipated performance after a six-year hiatus and star-studded audiences that included Leonardo DiCaprio — drew the ire of many, including esteemed music critics.

He played a shorter than expected headliner at the music festival on Sunday night, completing the third and final day of the event’s first weekend, as he was 57 minutes late and had to cut the performance short due to the 12:00 curfew.

Jeff Miller of Variety blasted the show on Monday morning, writing, “Ocean’s set — in which he and his musicians were deliberately obscured from view by a frame of people walking in a circle around them, seen only on video projected onto custom screens that are even more massive than those usually flanking Coachella’s main stage – was messy, loose and a near-disaster that will probably go down as one of the most divisive in Coachella history, with flashes of brilliance that only made for a frustrating end result: that of disappointment and tangible public WTF-ness.’

Miller noted that the artist sounded great when he opened with the hit song Novacane, but was barely seen on giant video screens.

He also noted that there was a long ‘what are we going to do now?’ pauses he described as “pregnant” that often came between songs, even stating that the setlist felt like “usually a series of audible noises on stage.”

Miller ended the caustic article with an exclamation point when he said, “Ocean is loved in part for its unpredictable nature, and its most devoted fans are sure to claim sheer artistry as an excuse. That’s fine: Ocean should have the freedom to explore his creativity however he pleases.

That said, when it’s in front of 100,000 people who have been clamoring to see you for years, having a plan is more than helpful: it’s necessary. Hopefully Ocean will actually have one next weekend.’

That wasn’t the only lukewarm review, by the way Adrian Horton from The Guardian wrote: “Most confusing and shocking of all, when he walked off after a cover of the Isley Brothers’ At Your Best (You Are Love) and announced offstage that he had been told he had put in a curfew and that the show was over. People stayed put, believing it might have been a bit, even after the lights came on. It wasn’t, much to the shock of many.

With his first headlining set, Ocean achieved the rare thrill of real suspense – what was he doing? Where was he going with this? The highs were high; it’s a shame the ending felt so bitter.’

Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times wrote, “Yet the way the show rescaled the dimensions of a headlining festival performance felt like a radical provocation.”

Meanwhile independent research agency The festive owl took to Twitter to provide an alleged explanation of what happened that led to the hour-long delay.

The outlet took to the microblogging site to write that according to their sources, “The stage production would (and has) featured an ice rink built and ready to use.

“Frank decided at the last minute that he didn’t want it at all anymore. All the people surrounding him at the start of the performance were actually skaters, had been practicing for weeks and would be skating as part of the production. Coachella had to tear down the approved stage (which had been planned and signed off months in advance) + melt down the entire rink and then set it up as Frank decided without warning today. That’s what you finally saw and caused the hour delay.

“This all happened when the doors were already opening for Sunday and people were securing their spots to see him. Had it not been for last-minute changes, he would not have performed at all – leaving the festival without a closing headliner.

The way the performance actually went down was just one of many controversies surrounding the admired R&B singer as he had fans at home struggled to hold back their frustration when his performance was pulled from the live stream of the event, meaning they couldn’t tune in.”

The singer was also delayed by appearing on stage an hour late following acts such as Björk, Glorilla, Sudan Archives and Weyes Blood earlier in the day.

Despite it being his first performance in six years, the artist had to cut short his set due to local curfew rules.

And when they took to Twitter to share their frustration, fans were furious that he would “ruin the day” as they demanded new music to make up for it.

It was a highly anticipated performance for Frank, real name Christopher Francis Ocean, as it was the first in six years – after he last sang at the 2017 Flow Festival in Finland.

He was scheduled to play Coachella in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced a cancellation and the singer was unavailable to play during the festival’s return last year.

But the comeback was further delayed on Sunday when he appeared on stage an hour late for an unknown reason.

Due to Coachella’s usual 12 noon Sunday curfew, he too had to end the performance early.

“Guys, I was told it’s curfew, so that’s the end of the show. Thank you very much,’ he said abruptly after a song at the festival.

Besides being too late, the set was removed from the Coachella live stream that was in progress via YouTube, where many fans were eagerly awaiting its arrival.

Fans took to social media to share how far they went so they could tune in at home, expressing their frustration that the set was not being streamed live.

“I literally did my job from seven in the morning to make time for you Frank Ocean pleaseeeee,” one wrote.

Another wrote: ‘Frank Ocean… I’m not mad, just disappointed’.

“Started the set late, didn’t let them stream it live, and now ends the set early…Frank Ocean, you’ll regret the day,” added a third.

Another added: ‘Frank Ocean really went from ‘I missed you’ to ‘There’s a curfew, g2g bye’]’

While speculation circulated about why the set wasn’t being streamed live, Frank also clarified if it had anything to do with new music coming up.

He told the audience, “It’s not because of a new album. Not that there isn’t a new album, but not right now.’

His latest album was 2016’s BLONDE which received critical acclaim and UK chart success.