Frank Ocean has withdrawn from Splendour in the Grass after suffering vocal chord damage during his first Melbourne show on Thursday night. English indie rock quartet Alt-J are joining the festival as last minute replacements .
In addition to cancelling his Sunday night performance at Australia’s biggest winter music festival, Frank Ocean has also cancelled the second of his two sold out Melbourne Festival Hall concerts and two Sydney shows after apparently playing Thursday night’s gig in some pretty obvious discomfort.
His replacement will be none other than Australian favourites Alt-J who have been revealed as the Splendour ‘mystery band’.
The Alt-J news hasn’t come as a huge surprise- the band announced back in March they would be in Australia for three late July gigs, conveniently leaving enough space for a Splendour appearance between shows in Perth and Melbourne.
Frank Ocean’s management explained the cancellation on Friday, also saying that booking additional shows appears unlikely.
“After last night’s concert in Melbourne at Festival Hall, it was necessary to seek medical advice due to vocal issues Frank Ocean experienced during the show.
It has subsequently been confirmed that Frank has suffered a small tear to one of his vocal chords and has received medical advice that he must rest his voice.
This makes the completion of his remaining Australian dates impossible. Unfortunately due to Frank Ocean’s tight tour schedule it is not possible to schedule replacement dates, however we will be working to confirm a return to Australia as soon as is practical.
All ticket holders for the headline dates (listed at the bottom) may obtain a full refund from the point of purchase.”
Today’s news marks the second time Ocean has cancelled performances in Australia. He dropped out of last year’s Future Music Festival a week before the tour kicked off, citing difficulties recording his debut album as the reason for the no-show.
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