On Tuesday night, Frank Ocean got into a car
crash on the way to one of the most prominent shows of his short but already
transcendent career. He was headed to a sold-out Wiltern, capacity 2,300, and
lucky for us, he ultimately made it without any visible injuries.
He seemed fine, in fact, and by the time he stepped onstage a little before 10 p.m. to face the crowd, which had waited patiently in a thick line that stretched around the block while inside the singer did an extra sound check, the electricity in the room was palpable.
Ocean, 24, was greeted with a huge, energized cheer -- and a lot of swooning -- that took into account not only his magnetic, game-changing debut album, "Channel Orange," but also his decision weeks before to kick down a cultural wall when he wrote of his sexual desire for another man.
But a few songs into the show, right in the middle of “Forrest Gump,” the most revealing and emotional work on “Channel Orange,” Ocean cut the song short, made a brief apology that took into account the crash, and started anew to sing about his first love, a man he nicknamed Forrest.
He never fully recovered from the stumble -- something that happens to everyone at some point -- even if he still hit some remarkable peaks and offered ample evidence to support the frenzy surrounding “Channel Orange.”
Prior to that little moment, Ocean had been killing it. He’d kicked off with a gentle cover of Prince’s “When U Were Mine,” accompanied by an acoustic guitar, and the crowd sang along -- at least the minority of post-thirtysomethings old enough to know the words. (Eight months ago during his first ever live performance, at the El Rey, he’d opened with Sade’s "By Your Side.")
Ocean and his band -- bass, guitar, drums and
keyboards -- then moved into the first song on "Channel Orange," “Thinking About
You,” and the shrieks from the fans felt somehow historic, as though we were
watching a 2012 version of the reaction when Otis
Redding, James Brown, Whitney
Houston or D’Angelo was first hitting it big.
With each graceful ascent into his falsetto, the ladies cooed and the men shifted uncomfortably, and when he moved into the final lines of the chorus -- “Do you still think about me?” -- the room filled with a thousand voices singing, “Do ya? Do ya? Do ya?”
No doubt this week has been surreal for Ocean, which is one reason why few could blame him for feeling a little overwhelmed when he then lost track of “Forrest Gump.”
He was, after all, facing a crowd wide open to his advances, seemingly willing to accept him unconditionally. Such a moment takes experience to fully exploit, and anyone who’s ever stumbled while trying to unclasp a bra, slobbered during a sexy kiss or otherwise revealed vulnerability during an intense moment can understand how a miscue can become magnified very quickly -- especially with a couple thousand people involved and after you’ve just been in a car crash.
Check out footage from Frank Ocean's show on 7/17 in Los Angeles while on tour to promote his new album "Channel Orange", joined by Earl Sweatshirt performing "Super Rich Kids".
Frank Ocean "Channel Orange" available on everywhere now!Click here to download "Channel Orange" on iTunes.
Follow Frank Ocean on Twitter @Frank_Ocean
www.frankocean.com
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