- Today - 2:00 PM
Frank OceanFestival Hall, Melbourne
Thursday 25th July 2013
Frank Ocean stands behind two microphones, his hand in his pocket. Behind him, there's a strange mesh wall onto which videos of clouds or BMW sports cars drifting on a frozen tundra are projected. Whenever the screen goes black, the space behind the barrier is lit up just enough to show the faint silhouettes of Ocean's backing band - just enough to prove there is one, that he's not using a tape. Not enough to take the attention off him. Just enough to say, "This is authentic. We're live, but I'm who you're here for." Not that there was ever a chance of forgetting that. He sings and his voice hits notes that most of us only dream of.
In 2011, along with artists like The Weeknd and Miguel, Frank Ocean was the Odd Future member on the bleeding edge of a new wave of R&B. 'Indie R&B', 'Hipster R&B', 'PBR&B' - whatever you call the mutant genre, it got critics and fans talking, redefining R&B for a generation who grew up through some of contemporary R&B's finest years. The release of Ocean's nostalgia ULTRA mix-tape in 2011 was a banner moment, only dwarfed by the release of last year's thoroughly acclaimed channel ORANGE. Since then, through Odd Future-related controversy and the media circus surrounding his emerging sexuality, Ocean's star has only risen.
You can hear it in the deafening roar before the show starts, a chorus of screaming elicited every time a song playing over the PA finishes. But then another song begins and everyone groans and quietens again. This goes on for half an hour until he finally appears 40 minutes after schedule.
And yet it seems like nobody minds. It could be that everyone's so chill from the miasma of spliff smoke curling up towards the rafters. Even before the show, the dank, familiar scent could be detected blocks away from Festival Hall, as thousands of kids waited in line to get in. But here inside, any resentment from the wait outside is erased.
At one point Ocean walks off to get some water and the stage lights go down. Stagehands bring out a piano that Ocean sits at. "It's frigid as fuck in Melbourne right now," he says. He doesn't say much more tonight, though does repeatedly apologise for having a cold. To his credit, it only interferes with a couple of songs and briefly, cases in which he takes a bar to clear his throat and then move on. After the show, a friend says Ocean claimed the same ailment on his last tour. Frank Ocean: weak immune system or just allergic to performing live?
Unsurprisingly the biggest songs are 'Novacane', 'Super Rich Kids', and 'Thinkin Bout You', the three everyone knows. As he closes out, the backdrop turns a solid, luminescent orange - the colour the synesthetic Ocean reportedly associates with the first summer he fell in love. Legions of girls and guys continue shouting "I love you, Frank!" Their sincerity is so convincing it seems crazed, like they need his presence as much as the air they're gasping for.
His voice might've brought him here, but in light of all this adoration it's like he doesn't even need to sing. He could just stand and be loved as a vessel for the crowd's intense, unrequited affection - an idol in the sense of an object. "It's time for me to say goodnight now," he murmurs, and then he leaves. There is no encore. There doesn't need to be.
--
Jake Cleland
UPDATE: Regrettably we can confirm that Frank Ocean’s remaining Australian shows have been cancelled. More soon.
- Today - 2:00 PM
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