Frank Ocean Debuts Reworked Songs at Coachella 2023, Has Set Cut Short Due to Curfew

Frank Ocean headlined Coachella 2023 on Sunday night, playing a mercurial set of reworked classics and deep cuts before cutting the show short due to a curfew. Check out the setlist and watch clips below.

Ocean arrived about an hour late and, wearing a blue jacket with the hood up, opened with stripped-back renditions of “Novacane,” “Come on World, You Can’t Go!,” “Crack Rock,” and “Bad Religion,” before lurching into a modular-synth rework of “White Ferrari.”

After “White Ferrari,” Ocean addressed the crowd for the first time, hinting that a new album is in the works and paying tribute to his late brother, Ryan Breaux. “Who’s on drugs tonight, who’s high right now?” Ocean began. “It’s been so long. Everybody I’ve talked to has said how long it’s been, so long, so long... but I have missed you. I want to talk about why I’m here, because it’s not because of the new album. Not that there’s not a new album, but there’s not right now. It’s not right now.”

He continued, “These last couple years my life changed so much. My brother and I, we came to this festival a lot. I feel like I was dragged here so much of the time. I hated the dust; I always dealt with a respiratory infection.” He recalled watching Rae Sremmurd with his brother, dancing in one of the tents. “I know he would’ve been so excited to be here with all of us. I wanted to say thank you for the support and the ears and the love for all this time. I’m gonna get back to the songs.” He played an acoustic version of “Pink + White,” followed by a sub bass–heavy arrangement of “Solo.”

The set continued with a reworked “Chanel” and what Ocean called a “rave mix” from DJ Crystalmess, including club remixes of Ocean tracks and snippets of Underworld’s “Born Slippy” and Ice Spice’s “Actin a Smoochie.” During the mix and at other points during the set, Ocean strayed from the mic and danced or paced the stage while his prerecorded vocals played. A punk version of “Wiseman” came next, before a rendition of Willie Nelson’s “Night Life” (previously covered by the likes of Aretha Franklin and Marvin Gaye). That was followed by “Self Control,” “Nikes,” and “Nights.”

He played his cover of Isley Brothers’ “(At Your Best) You Are Love,” as featured on Endless. Then, the show abruptly ended. “Guys, I’m being told it’s curfew, so that’s the end of the show,” Ocean said. “Thank you so much.” Coachella’s Sunday curfew is midnight Pacific; the show ended some 25 minutes after that.

To the dismay of fans trying to watch from home, Ocean’s performance did not stream on Coachella’s official YouTube channel. Unofficial livestreams from attendees garnered tens of thousands of views on Instagram and TikTok. Ocean has since pulled out of his scheduled headlining set at Coachella 2023 this Sunday, April 23.

The performance fulfilled a booking first announced in 2020, before the pandemic scuppered that year’s festival. Though Ocean hasn’t revealed any plans for a follow-up to 2016’s Blonde and Endless, he has issued a handful of singles over the last couple of years. Among them were “DHL” and “In My Room” in 2019 and the following year’s “Dear April.”

Beyond the music world, Ocean launched his luxury company Homer in 2021, beginning with a line of silk scarves and jewelry. He recently announced a new program, Homer Radio, with Apple Music.

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