Frank Ocean‘s summer tour overseas has come to a hault. The Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter has canceled his sold-out Australian tour after suffering with throat problems on opening night. A trip to the doctors has revealed he has a tear to one of his vocal chords.
The rising R&B star had launched his inaugural tour Down Under with a concert Thursday night at Melbourne’s Festival Hall. But he didn’t pull up well.
Ocean’s Friday night show at the same venue has been shelved, and two shows next week (July 29 and July 30) at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion have also been axed, tour promoter Live Nation said today. His planned performance at Splendour in the Grass this Sunday now won’t go ahead.
“After last night’s concert… it was necessary to seek medical advice due to vocal issues Frank Ocean experienced during the show,” the promoter comments in a statement. “It has subsequently been confirmed that Frank has suffered a small tear to one of his vocal cords and has received medical advice that he must rest his voice.”
Ocean’s mini-tour was built around his planned appearance at Splendour, in the east-coast beach town of Byron Bay. “With Splendour already in full swing this is devastating news for the event and will be for many of our patrons,” a spokesperson for the festival said.
The Grammy winner was noticeably off-key on his opening night. And he didn’t mind sharing the news. During a performance of “Forrest Gump,” he told the audience, “I’m sick… I don’t know if you care,” according to reports.
He reportedly closed the show without an encore. He offered these words, “I don’t wanna speak much tonight but I do wanna thank you guys,” before the houselights came up.
