Music

Evidence Emerges of Known Music Maker Frank Ocean Playing First Show in Three Years

When Frank Ocean cancelled his scheduled performances at Sasquatch!, Hangout, and Primavera Sound last month, an unpleasant déjà vu set in. Ocean had cancelled all of his performances last year, only emerging from the ether to street race Tyler, The Creator. Things are very different now, of course—we can’t ask for much more than two mesmerizing, near-perfect records from Ocean, no matter how long he spent away from the public eye—but when a statement reads that a show’s been cancelled due to “production delays beyond his control,” we’re all liable to worry about another disappearance. And, with the incredible run of form that Ocean’s been on lately, that would be a real shame.

Thankfully, those “production delays” seem to have been resolved. Ocean performed for the first time in three year’s at last night’s NorthSide Festival in Denmark. We have evidence. His set relied almost entirely on newer tracks, combining highlights from Blond, Endless, and his recent Blonded Radio surprise releases. Extremely fortunate Danes got to witness an opening sequence of “Solo,” “Chanel,” “Lens,” and “Biking.” They got to hear Frank Ocean cover The Jackson 5’s “Never Can Say Goodbye.” They watched a man who we once thought had disappeared entirely from our realm close out his first performance since 2014 with “Pyramids,” ‘Futura Free,” and “Nikes.”

Videos by VICE

Can you replicate the experience that those people had last night? Hell no! But you can watch the fan-shot footage that the good people of Denmark uploaded to social media last night:

Alex Robert Ross is a known words writer. Follow him on Twitter.