Frank Ocean quietly stormed Los Angeles for the fourth stop on his channel ORANGE tour. Fans lined up around the block to see the Odd Future crooner perform at the sold-out Wiltern on Tuesday night. With his OFWGKTA crew, Keri Hilson, and Drake in attendance, he kicked off his 70-minute set just before 10 p.m. with a cover of Prince’s “When You Were Mine,” before diving into material off his critically-acclaimed Def Jam debut and Nostalgia, Ultra.
“L.A. is something special to me,” said Ocean, who was born in New Orleans and currently resides in L.A. “I wrote channel ORANGE here, I wrote Nostalgia, Ultra here. I fell in love here, I got my heart broken here. I got a little famous here, I got a little paid here. I fuck with L.A. in a special way.”
While singing the controversial “Forrest Gump,” he stopped midway to tell the audience that he had been in an accident on the way to the venue. “I got into a wreck like 45 minutes ago, so I’m like mentally fucked up. Let’s do it again,” he told his band.
His Odd Future cohort Earl Sweatshirt joined him on “Super Rich Kids.” After accidentally knocking over Frank’s cup of tea, he apologized and told him to have a good show as Frank laughed.
He closed with “Pyramids,” but returned for an encore as the crowd chanted “Frankie!” While seated at the keyboard, he reprised his stripped-down version of “I Miss You,” the song he wrote for Beyoncé’s album 4.
Fans left feeling fulfilled. “That was the best concert I’ve ever been to,” said one young lady.