Frank Ocean‘s first public performance in nearly six years was a huge disappointment to fans who traveled to Coachella to see him Sunday. Since then, rumors have been swirling about what happened, involving scuttled plans for an ice skating rink onstage and Ocean injuring his ankle. Ocean did not include any new songs on his setlist, instead reimagining his well-known tracks and ending with a cover of The Isley Brothers’ “At Your Best (You Are Love).” The set also included a bizarre six-song DJ set from Crystallmess, while Ocean just sat on stage.
Ocean, 35, suffered a serious ankle injury before the festival, sources told TMZ and Rolling Stone. While at the Empire Polo Club grounds for a rehearsal, he was riding a bike to roam around the venue. The injury was serious enough that Ocean’s doctors told him to change up the set. This injury could be why Ocean wore slippers and sat during his performance, which started an hour late. However, it didn’t explain the reasoning behind Crystallmess’ set, which featured pre-recorded remixes of Ocean’s songs being played while the two-time Grammy winner only sat onstage.
Videos by PopCulture.com
There are also rumors that the set was originally planned to include figure skaters and a full ice skating rink on the Coachella stage. A full rink was reportedly constructed, according to Festive Owl. Sources said Ocean decided at the “last minute” that he didn’t want the rink at all. Coachella staffers then had to melt the ice and deconstruct the rink, which was already set up. Ocean allegedly refused to perform if the changes weren’t made. He also “personally” refused to let Coachella live-stream his performance. A source told Variety Ocean’s performance was never publicly scheduled to be streamed, but members of the festival team still expected it until the production plans were changed.
Loyola Marymount University hockey player Aaron Vos also posted an Instagram Story showing nine men wearing skating gear with the caption “The Boys X Frank,” reports Rolling Stone. Two other team members posted photos of the stage but didn’t perform. Vos declined to comment to Rolling Stone and the other skaters didn’t respond to the outlet.
One source told TMZ that a casting director contacted Los Angeles-based hockey teams in March for a casting call. Once there, they reportedly saw Ocean. Over 100 hockey players were cast and rehearsed at an ice rink at Paramount Studios and were even bussed to Coachella for rehearsal week. Although the hockey rink was deconstructed, these players still appeared onstage as Ocean’s backup dancers. Since they aren’t trained dancers, the skaters appeared to be walking more than dancing. A source told TMZ they were given custom Prada products for their trouble.
Fans hoped Ocean would use the Coachella performance, originally scheduled for 2020, to unveil new music. He referenced this during one of his brief speeches to the crowd. “I want to talk about why I’m here because it’s not because of a new album, not that there’s not a new album,” he said, before explaining that he often attended the festival with his brother, Ryan Breaux, who died in a car accident in 2020. “I know [Ryan] would be so excited to be here with all of us,” Ocean said. I want to say thank you for the support and the years and the love all this time. Now I’ll get back to the songs.” Ocean is still scheduled to perform on Sunday, April 23 during Coachella’s second weekend.ย
