Blonde vs Orange: An Orchestral Rendition of Frank Ocean, at The Blues Kitchen, Manchester

I’m still bitter that I missed Sampha, Mac Miller, and Frank Ocean at Lovebox in 2017, not knowing at the time it would be my only chance to ever see Mac Miller, and that it might have been my only opportunity to see Frank for the next ten years, given just how mysterious the man can be, and his only upcoming live date being the very-out-of-my-price-range Coachella. Hopefully, a new album really is on the way, and hopefully, he will actually tour, but who knows. So for now, the closest thing I will get to seeing Frank Ocean on stage as I should have done all those years ago, is through Re:imagine’s Orchestral series of events, who have previously run very successful gigs by performing renditions of Lauryn Hill, Kanye West, amongst others. ‘Blonde vs Orange: An Orchestral Rendition of Frank Ocean’ was a pretty great night.

Upon arriving fairly drunk, after seeing off a few cans in the blissful June sun that had blessed Manchester, I was ready to poorly sing every lyric to all my favourite Frank Ocean songs like a drunk dad at the pub doing karaoke. Arriving just a few minutes late, we missed Forrest Gump, which was a devastating start to the evening. However, as more shots were poured at The Blues Kitchen, the evening got better and better, going between endless Frank classics. From the luscious, warm sounds of Channel Orange tracks like Sweet Life, Lost, and Super Rich Kids, to the stripped back, gut wrenching world of Blonde’s Ivy, Self Control, and Solo. It was so good to see these songs performed by a live band, and the crowd of passionate Frank fans made for a terrific atmosphere.

From going back and looking back at my blurry, drunken videos, with terrible, terrible singing, it’s clear I had a good time, but it’s almost cringe inducing listening back to my tipsy shrieks of ‘WE’LL NEVER BE THOSE KIDS AGAIN’ and ‘SHE’S WORKING AT THE PYRAMIDS TONIGHT’. Some particular high points were of course the marvellous tracks Pyramids and Nights which were always going to have expectations high, but the band and vocalist delivered – the band especially showing up for the build-up and beat switch of Nights which still had the crowd shocked even when we saw it coming a million miles away. I’d like to think I flawlessly performed the second half of Pyramids, but I most likely tripped over every word.

Seeing some of my favourite songs in a live setting was dreamlike, from the euphoric Pink + White, to the tearjerker Thinkin Bout You, which they played as the closer for the evening. Both these tracks were performed by the equally talented female vocalist, who also did justice to the heart-breaking Ivy.

Putting Channel Orange and Blonde head-to-head, Blonde wins for me every time – as much as they are both future classics. But despite my favouritism, songs like Pink Matter were absolutely wonderful to hear whilst the lightshow of pinks and reds set the mood further. I was pretty impressed with myself for not crying over the course of the night, but that would probably have been a different story if it was the real Frank Ocean on stage.

The evening could have lived up to expectations more however, leaving songs like Seigfried (perhaps my favourite Frank Ocean song), White Ferrari, Godspeed, Bad Religion, and Crack Rock out is pretty criminal, but obviously there was limited time. Thankfully enough time for them to play Chanel, but it would have been nice to hear some other singles like In My Room, Biking, or Cayendo, alongside a few Endless tracks if we’re straying from the two major LPs – this is me being overly critical though, there would not have been enough time for everything (Facebook Story was sorely missed though).

One major downside for me was perhaps a little false advertising. From my shaky recordings, there appeared to be only 5 people on stage, including the very talented vocalists, and saxophonist. However, unless they were hidden, and it didn’t sound like they were, there was no 12-piece orchestra, with a full string section, as advertised. This feels like quite a big draw for an event like this, seeing new renditions of beloved songs, with added instrumentation and luscious strings. The music still sounded great, but it was a little disappointing to not see the albums in a new light, as it ended up being more of a cover band, a good one at that. Re:imagine’s events still deserve your support, and hopefully there is a reasonable answer as to why there was no orchestra that particular night, but it didn’t stop the night from being what it was primarily supposed to be in my eyes – an excuse to get drunk and belt out your favourite Frank Ocean songs.

Stream Frank Ocean’s music here…