With his first headliner set, Ocean did achieve the rare thrill of true suspense – what was he doing? Where was he going with this? The highs were high it’s a shame the end felt so bitter. People stayed put, believing it was maybe a bit even after the lights came on. Or, most confusing and shocking of all, when he walked away after a cover of the Isley Brothers’ At Your Best (You Are Love) and announced, offstage, that he’d been informed he’d hit curfew and the show was over. His remixes – he barely played any track straight, to the frustration of many in the audience – ranged from gorgeous (an ethereal Godspeed, his falsettos on Bad Religion) to surprising (a bouncy take on Solo) to outright inaccessible (a rock remix of Wiseman.) The highs – and when Ocean is good, he is transcendent – were chased by moments of confusion, such as when he handed over the show to a boy playing his “inner child” or simply lip-synced to Nikes and Nights, not even bothering to hold a microphone. There were moments, such as a tricked-out version of White Ferrari, when I believed it was the best concert I had ever seen – Ocean’s voice is, as ever, nothing short of sublime, even chill-inducing. Those pauses were but stops on a rollercoaster. He recalled one of his favorite memories, seeing Rae Sremmurd at Coachella with his brother – “I know he would’ve been so excited to be here with all of us.” Every pause after that – and there were long ones between each track – held the weight, for me, of profound grief. “I want to talk about why I’m here because it’s not because of a new album,” he said after an acoustic version of Pink + White. When Ocean did acknowledge the audience, it was to dedicate the show to his late brother Ryan Breaux, who died at 18 in a car accident in August 2020. More than once, Ocean took long breaks to consult with earpiece-wearing official someones a 10-minute interlude DJ-ed by Crystalmess showcased a twerking security guard.Įventually, the deflection felt less pointed than personal. The camera would often pan around Ocean’s control room, taking in musicians and sound techs and other cameras copious mirrors produced the effect of endless, looping equipment. The staging flouted the presumed seamlessness of a stress-tested set, instead showing the seams, the who and what it takes to put on a show. Bad Bunny Got Frank Ocean to Leave the HouseIn the Where She Goes music video alongside Lil Uzi Vert and Dominic Fike. Dressed in a blue puffer coat with the hood drawn up, it took several minutes to even get a full glimpse of his face. He did not appear on camera or on stage for his first number, Novacane, for which the crowd sang every word. On Friday night at Panorama Fest in New York City, Frank Ocean performed an emotional set hits like 'Thinkin Bout You,' 'Nights,' 'Self Control,' and even a cover of 'Never Say Goodbye' by The. Instead, I viewed him on the big screen, filmed in a shaky-cam, closeup style, along with his band and crew, that evoked the feeling of a documentary produced in real time.įor awhile, this only heightened Ocean’s mystical stature, a flex of hype and under-exposure. Born in Panorama City, Los Angeles, California, and raised in Agoura Hills. Ocean rarely left the sanctity of the bubble for the actual stage I was decently close to the front on one side, and didn’t see him for the entire 80-minute set. Michael Kenji Shinoda is an American musician, singer, rapper, songwriter. The vast majority of the performance took place in a room outfitted to look like Nasa’s mission control cut into the massive wall of screens. The show opened with eight minutes of hooded men in military fatigues walking in a circle. There are certain conventions one expects for the night’s biggest slot: command of the stage, interaction with multiple sections of the audience, stage banter peppered with gratitude, a familiar and beloved hook to ease in the newer or less palatable material, choreography or the evidence of preparation. By the time the show started an hour later, “Come on, Frank!” was a common refrain.Īfter Bad Bunny’s conscience-minded party on Friday and Blackpink’s campaign of pop bangers on Saturday, it seemed fitting – even genius, given his avant-garde bona fides – that Ocean’s performance would deconstruct and then upend expectations of a headliner set. The main stage screens still showed test visuals at his 10pm start time, for which people began staking out good spots an hour beforehand. There were warning signs of something amiss, namely the last-minute cancellation of a planned YouTube live stream for his show. Bad Bunny has released his latest single Where She Goes along with music video featuring a quick cameo from Frank Ocean, who appears riding on the back of a motorcycle. Those fans, as well as a good fraction of the festival who stayed for Ocean’s weekend-capping set on Sunday night, had their patience tested.
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