The artist surprised fans when YouTube announced his set wouldn't be part of the official livestream.
After he was originally set to headline Coachella in 2020 -- before the pandemic shut down the festival -- Frank Ocean again returned to Indio, California, on Sunday to headline the first weekend of this year's star-studded music festival.
The appearance marked Ocean's first performance in six years -- since 2017's Flow Festival in Finland.
Ocean was set to take the stage at 10:05 pm PT, but he'd already had stirred a great deal of controversy and backlash online when it was announced that his set would not be included in YouTube's livestream from the festival.
The video platform confirmed this on Twitter, just a few hours before he took the stage, writing, "Frank Ocean is not scheduled to appear on the Coachella livestream." No explanation was provided.
Additionally, signs were prominently placed around the venue declaring that no Frank Ocean merchandise would be available for purchase at the festival.
Fans were frustrated by this absence from the livestream and made their disappointment abundantly clear on Twitter.
When it came time for the live event, it seems Ocean was delayed as well, according to the abundance of tweets and posts from fans in attendance.
While those who couldn't go to Coachella this year scrambled to find some Instagram live stream of Ocean's set, those who were there posted that they were increasingly concerned it wasn't going to happen at all.
Some made comparisons to Kanye West's now-infamous Donda releases and listening parties, which were often delayed by hours or, in some cases, didn't happen at all.
As of Sunday evening, one hour after Ocean's set was scheduled to begin, it appeared that Ocean had finally taken the stage and started his performance. Some fans streamed the show, in part, on Instagram Live, and fans at home scoured the internet for links to said live streams.
It's unclear why Ocean's performance was dropped from the YouTube livestream schedule in the first place.
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