Frank Ocean was prepped and ready to begin his first ever tour in Australia, but it seems health issues had other ideas. After completing only one performance in the land down under, Ocean announced that his other four scheduled performances in Australia had to be nixed.
"After last night's concert . . . it was necessary to seek medical advice due to vocal issues Frank Ocean experienced during the show," said a representative for Live Nation, the promoter of the tour.
Ocean was reportedly struggling through his set on Thursday night at the Melbourne Music Hall, apparently singing out of key with many of the songs (when Frank Ocean sings out of key, you know something's up). Ocean finished the set but didn't come back for an encore. The vocalist immediately consulted a physician, who diagnosed the R&B star with a vocal tear.
"I'm sick...I don't know if you care," Ocean told the crowd as he struggled through "Forrest Gump." Although he didn't perform an encore, he did his best to thank the crowd for coming out. "I don't wanna speak much tonight but I do wanna thank you guys," he said before exiting the stage.
Ocean's first Australian tour was centered around his planned appearance on Saturday at the Splendour in The Grass Music Festival at the beach town of Byron Bay. Ocean had another show in Melbourne scheduled for Friday night, and then two additional dates at Sydney's Hordern Pavilion. There have been no suggestions as to potential rescheduling as of yet.
It's not the first time that Ocean's needed to reschedule his travel plans due to unforeseen circumstances. Earlier in July, the performer cancelled plans on performing in Egypt as political upheaval continued following the ouster of Mohamed Morsi. Ocean opted to head for South African instead.
