Frank Ocean has withdrawn as the headliner of Coachella’s second weekend, following complications with two fractures and a sprained leg. The singer, who held his first headline performance at the Californian festival late last week, is said to have suffered injuries on festival grounds, with reps citing the incident as reason for his withdrawal. “On doctor’s advice, Frank is not able to perform weekend 2 due to two fractures and a sprain in his left leg,” Ocean’s representatives said in a statement to TMZ.
They continued: “After suffering an injury to his leg on festival grounds in the week leading up to weekend 1, 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.” Meanwhile, in his own statement to TMZ, Ocean described his weekend one show as “chaotic,” and said the performance “isn’t what I intended to show but I did enjoy being out there and I’ll see you soon.”
The news comes after a weekend one performance that many fans described as lackluster. After arriving an hour late to his set, Ocean’s performance was plagued with long silent pauses, with many festival-goers saying the singer was barely visible off screen. Ocean also lip synched some of his songs, and brought out a DJ for ten minutes of his set. Fans were seen leaving the performance midway through, before the set was cancelled early in alignment with Coachella’s curfew. The festival was later fined for breaching the curfew after both Ocean’s and Bad Bunny’s sets.
Ocean’s weekend one performance reportedly underwent drastic changes ahead of its start time due to the singer’s injuries, with alterations made to a potential ice rink that was later scrapped. A YouTube livestream of the landmark show was likewise cancelled a mere hours before Ocean appeared on stage. Ocean was initially set to appear at the festival’s 2020 edition before it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The headlining set last week marked the reclusive singer’s first live performance since 2017.
It marks the second time in as many years that a Coachella headliner has pulled out from the festival, following Kanye West’s withdrawal from the lineup in 2022. News of Ocean’s departure has swirled rumours of which act will replace him, with Variety reporting that Blink-182 will perform in Ocean’s place following the band’s hugely successful showing at the festival on weekend one. Also set to perform at Coachella’s second weekend are Dominc Fike, Kali Uchus, and Bjork, among many others.
Published: Apr 19, 2023 09:05 pm