Canada’s Justin Bieber has come to the defence of Frank Ocean, whose headlining set at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on Sunday was branded a disappointment by many fans.
"I was blown away by Frank Ocean’s Coachella performance,” Bieber wrote in an Instagram post. “His artistry is simply unmatched, his style, his taste, his voice, his attention to detail…I was deeply moved. It made me want to keep going and get better as an artist. He continues to set the bar high and gave me a night I will never forget! Thanks Frank.”
Ocean’s set started an hour later than scheduled and had to be stopped after less than 90 minutes due to a curfew. The singer was seated for most of the performance and made no effort to disguise the fact that he lip-synced several songs.
“Overall, the energy was low,” opined Variety. “He and the band were obscured by a battery of people walking in a circle around the stage; and the pacing was bizarre: a seemingly random DJ set was dropped into the the middle, leading many fans to think his performance was over.”
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On Twitter, one fan fumed: "What Frank Ocean did to his Fanbase tonight is unacceptable and lame asf on so many levels. It’s going to take me a long time to get over this one… you don’t provide ANY new music, you lip-sync half the songs to sloppy remixes that sounded put together 3 days ago, you show up over an hour late, and you don’t pay the curfew fine.”
According to multiple reports on Monday, Ocean’s set was supposed to involve an on-stage ice rink and skaters who would glide around the singer and his band. But, Ocean suffered an ankle injury – either during rehearsals or while riding a bike at the festival, depending on which report is true – and the production had to be scaled back.
“Frank decided at the last minute that he no longer wanted it at all,” reported @TheFestiveOwl. “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.”
Ocean is scheduled to close out Coachella’s second weekend on April 23.