Happy Frank Ocean Day! Live updates from Coachella Day 3

Frank Ocean performs onstage with headphones on.

Kenan Draughorne , Suzy Exposito, Mikael Wood

April 16, 2023 Updated 4:25 PM PT

Welcome to the third and final day of our live coverage of the 2023 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

Today’s headliner is the elusive, enigmatic R&B singer Frank Ocean, who hasn’t performed in concert since 2019, and hasn’t played these parts since back in 2017. Who will he bring out during his set? Will he drop new music and rejoin the fray of working musicians? Stay tuned here; all will be revealed.

Sunday’s lineup is arguably the fest’s strongest and most progressive, featuring Björk, Kali Uchis, Glorilla, Sudan Archives, Weyes Blood, Dominic Fike, IDK, Latto, Christine and the Queens, Rae Sremmurd, Alex G and many more.

Saturday was no slouch, either: K-pop’s Blackpink more than earned its headline slot, and sets from boygenius, Rosalía, Calvin Harris, the Breeders and Ethel Cain were standouts.

The Times’ Mikael Wood, August Brown, Suzy Exposito, Kenan Draughorne and Vanessa Franko are roaming the grounds of Indio’s Empire Polo Club and reporting on all the action as it happens.

Rise and shine, Coachella! The sun is beaming down extra hard today, so be sure to pack your sunblock.

Last night saw a razor sharp set by K-pop femme fatales Blackpink, who slayed the main stage. This evening, the enigmatic singer-songwriter Frank Ocean is slated to headline, marking his first live performance since 2017; this is sure to unite the sadbois, sadgirls and sadtheys in cathartically tearful harmony.—Suzy Exposito

1:30 p.m. I started off my day “early” with an iced coffee, a pupusa and a charming 1 p.m. set by the first all-female, Gen-Z sierreño group, Conexión Divina — altogether, a breakfast of champions. The L.A. trio, who all met serendipitously on Instagram, regaled the Sonora tent with mellow mountain jams from their new album, “Tres Mundos,” a collection of ethereal and emotionally intelligent regional Mexican ballads. Conexión Divina also added extra spice to their set with a corrido-style cover of Bad Bunny’s reggae song “Me Fui de Vacaciones,” then a cover of “Como la Flor,” by the patron saint of Mexican fly girls, Selena Quintanilla. —S.E.

3:05 p.m. At the Outdoor Theater, a pan-Latin American circle pit has commenced! Legendary ska rockers Los Fabulosos Cadillacs stoked the Sunday crowd with a number of brassy punk anthems, including “Mal Bicho” and “Matador.” Flurries of flags from various countries were spotted in the mass of skanking Latinos, during their 45-minute set, including those representing Mexico, Puerto Rico and the band’s home country, Argentina. —S.E.

3:20 p.m. Stick Figure is bringing laidback reggae rock vibes to the Outdoor Theatre stage on this sunny Sunday. The only thing missing for the quintessential SoCal afternoon is a Sublime song. Oh wait, here’s a cover of “Summertime.” —Vanessa Franko

3:55 p.m. I was wandering around the field when the sound of fast guitars and a blond woman jumping around the stage drew me into the Gobi Tent. This is the magic of Coachella.

“I don’t know if you know it or not, but you came to a punk show,” R&B singer-songwriter Fousheé told the crowd.

I didn’t, but judging by the members of the crowd putting their hands in the air at her prompt, I’m not the only one who is happy to be here. — VF

4:07 p.m. A+ bit of demography from GloRilla to open her main-stage set: “I don’t know how many ratchet bitches we got in the crowd today,” the Memphis rapper said, “but we got one onstage.” — M.W.

4:10 p.m. Coachella fans who best recognize Fousheé from co-writing Steve Lacy’s R&B smash “Bad Habit” might not have expected the metalhead riffing and blasts of drum fills that filled her stage during her late afternoon set. But for the already converted, they came ready to circle pit.

There’s something deeply admirable about Fousheé’s commitment to demolishing the top-40 potential she had after writing one of last year’s biggest hits. She’s written and sung with Lil Wayne, James Blake, Lil Yachty and Vince Staples, but at Coachella, her set was rife with gnarled punk songs like “Stupid B-“ (with its memorable hook, “I’ll blow your brains out you stupid b-“) and “Deep End,” where she taunted a man that “he can’t afford me, he can’t afford me.”

With a great backing band of long-haired hessians and a few swirls of sampled atmospherics, the singer, dressed in a black and chrome bondage skirt, got a perverse glee out of upending expectations. Her 2022 album “Softcore” was an intriguing if uneven lash of noise and cooing R&B, but onstage Sunday, she dove in ready to wound the crowd herself, then pick them back up.

“It’s really hot, don’t pass out, she asked her fans. “But I’ll come rescue you if you do.” —August Brown