The fallout from Frank Ocean's Coachella fiasco continues. Ocean's feverishly anticipated Coachella headlining set Sunday — his first live performance in six years — went awry when he suffered an ankle injury at the festival site and scrapped plans for a planned onstage ice-rink, which was to feature about 120 skaters who'd been rehearsing for weeks. He ultimately canceled his appearance at the festival's second weekend and will be replaced this Sunday by new headliners blink-182 and a closing set from Skrillex, Four Tet, and Fred again..
About that giant ice pad: Billboard reports that Coachella promoter Goldenvoice spent several million dollars building it and is seeking a way to incorporate it into some other upcoming performance to offset their losses. Typically, festivals cover basic production costs but ask artists to pay for production elements unique to their performance. According to the report, in an exception to that standard procedure, Goldenvoice paid to build and maintain Ocean's ice pad and was planning to deduct its cost from his Coachella payday.
Ocean reportedly was scheduled to make $4 million per performance for a total of $8 million. He only will be paid for the first weekend, with his second $4 million going to blink-182 instead. Construction and energy costs related to the ice pad reportedly surpassed $4 million, so Goldenvoice lost money on Ocean's performance, even before factoring in the cost of adding Skrillex, Four Tet, and Fred again.. to the bill. The festival reportedly is unlikely to ask Ocean to recoup the expense.
TMZ has some images of the ice rink from rehearsals here.
