Frank Ocean will reportedly not get a second chance to skate into history at this weekend’s Coachella festival after reportedly dropping out of his second headlining slot on Sunday (April 23) due to a leg injury suffered on the festival grounds in the week before his controversial first weekend set.
And while Ocean has not personally detailed the extent of the injury or discussed the staging many described as awkward, former hockey players and Empty Netters podcast hosts Dan and Chris Powers were more than happy to spill the tea on what the puck happened on Tuesday’s edition of their show.
The two described an elaborate setup that was to spotlight a hockey rink as a stage, which required more than a month of rehearsals for the pair and dozens of other professional hockey and figure skaters. Dan described getting the gig after an audition at a Paramount Studios sound stage on an “elevated ice surface.” Once they were chosen, he said, “for about a month, we’ve been doing rehearsal, we’ve been hanging with Frank. We’ve been hanging with the other skaters. Hanging with these incredible figure skaters. Going through this whole process, it’s this huge ordeal.”
Chris said the intense rehearsal time was needed because, “the skating portion was going to be huge. It was going to be 120 skaters. And the people that walked [during the reconfigured show] was only like 30.” In fact, they said, the skaters went to the Indio location last week to do rehearsals on the main stage for Ocean’s first major performance since 2017.
The pair said those intense rehearsals continued until the Tuesday before last weekend’s show, which was when they claimed things began to melt down and Dan said the “wheels started to fall off” after the call times for makeup and wardrobe were repeatedly rescheduled. When they eventually were shuttled to the hotel for final fittings, skates in hand, Dan said, “it’s a nightmare… We sit at this hotel, we run into the figure skaters. These Olympic figure skaters, mind you, and they have a disgruntled look on their faces. And they casually mention to us that got a phone call and they’ve been cut from the show.”
“‘What the f–k is happening right now?’” he recalled thinking when they saw some other skaters who hadn’t gotten the bad news yet — and who he described as being done up in “ridiculous chrome/diamond makeup.”
That was when Dan said they began to get word that Ocean had allegedly been in an accident that resulted in an ankle injury, with rumblings that the elusive singer was “‘not in a good head space’ and they ‘don’t know what’s going on.’ And we’re sitting there, and it is becoming clear that things are not going well with this show.” The pair described getting a call from their handler saying the ice was being deconstructed and the show was being reconfigured at the 11th hour.
“Those figure skaters got cut not because there was an ice issue, not because there was something wrong,” Dan said. “There was no malfunction. He [Ocean] just straight-up was like, ‘F–k this. I’m not doing this anymore.’ And [to] these 120 people [he] had bused out here, he was just like, ‘You guys aren’t doing s–t now.’ So it was just like a wild flip.”
Dan said he was confused and thought, “‘these olympians just got cut from this Coachella performance with Frank Ocean and they think that we’re gonna go on? You’re saying goodbye to these skaters, but a bunch of dips–t former hockey players are gonna go up on that stage and buzz around?’” He added that at that point the remaining performers were handed sequined Prada suits and told they were to “walk back and forth on stage for about five minutes,” but not skate.
When asked by their handler if they wanted to participate in that, Dan said he and Chris said, in front of Ocean, “‘F–k no, dude. No thank you.” Despite the chaos and disorder, both said they had nothing but respect for Ocean, with Chris saying, “he really cares about the production… He had a very clear vision, and even though that vision changed a lot, he was always on us, helping us, making sure everyone hit what he was picturing in his mind.”
In a statement provided to Billboard, Ocean’s reps said that due to the leg injury, 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. On doctor’s advice, Frank is not able to perform weekend 2 due to two fractures and a sprain in his left leg.”
The enigmatic singer added in a statement, “It was chaotic. There is some beauty in chaos. It isn’t what I intended to show but I did enjoy being out there and I’ll see you soon.” Instead of the ice rink, the performance found Ocean — who came on an hour late — hanging behind a giant screen for most of the set of reimagined version of his most beloved songs, with just a small square of space hardly visible to the audience in the field; the planned livestream was also cancelled at the last minute.
At press time Ocean’s team had not publicly responded to the Powers’ podcast claims.
Watch the Empty Netters talk about the Ocean meltdown below.
