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All Tomorrow’s Parties: I’ll Be Your Mirror – Day One (Frank Ocean)

Frank Ocean's unfortunately abbreviated set was likely the main draw for the first night of All Tomorrow's Parties in NYC.
Frank Ocean

All Tomorrow’s Parties NYC event, ‘I’ll Be Your Mirror’, had a wide variety of genres covered with its scheduled artists. It’s first venture into Manhattan, the Pier 36 space, was located right underneath the F.D.R. Drive but, at least inside, the roar of traffic didn’t interfere with the music. If you were on the boat watching a movie, it may have been otherwise. Friday’s lineup included the comedians Kurt Braunholer, Hannibal Buress and Janeane Garofalo who led the night off early (7 pm) for an event with its main draw not scheduled till near midnight. Frank Ocean was the last act on the main stage, following performances from Lightning Bolt, Edan the DJ and Philip Glass and Tyondai Braxton. For those fans that came just for Ocean, they might have been puzzled by the instrumental pieces from Glass and Braxton. But the ATP festival isn’t defined by any one genre. You just take it as it comes. And the same applies for the event too. Ocean’s set was supposed to begin at 11:45 pm but got delayed till after midnight and then, due to an imposed curfew, he had to cut off just before 1 am.

Ocean’s set was excited but sounded a bit muddled in the back. He mixed up songs from his official album Channel Orange and his mixtape Nostalgia/Ultra backed with a full band. Someone in the audience tested the band when he or she requested the song “Lovecrimes”, Ocean believed his band knew how to play it, after the Coldplay-stealing “Strawberry Swing”. That song began a stretch of three strong hits that closed out the night, with “Novacane” and the lengthy “Pyramids” jam following. All in all, not enough from the man though he did release a new song online a day or two after (that you can hear below).

Visit PopMatters’ Facebook page for some higher res images of Frank Ocean.

Frank Ocean’s setlist:

Summer Remains

Thinking Bout You

Forrest Gump

Sierra Leone

Crack Rock

Swim Good

Strawberry Swing

Lovecrimes

Novacane

Pyramids