Interested in buying tickets to a music festival that has a 90% chance of not happening? Well, Fyre Festival II is back.
The original Fyre Festival, which ultimately did not go on as planned, left festival founder Billy McFarland in prison for fraud. However, the first failed attempt and subsequent prison sentence is not stopping him, as tickets for the second edition of the event are now up-for-grabs.
While the festival does not have an official date to share at this time, organizers are targeting for the end of 2024. If you have money to throw around, the first 777 passes are now available for $499. If that wasn’t steep enough for a low-credible festival, the prices only increase from there with the final presale tier ending at a whopping $7,999.
According to the festival’s website, pre-events and pop-ups will be announced over the next year, with a minimum of four events ahead of Fyre Festival II.
“It has been the absolute wildest journey to get here,” McFarland addressed the public in a video wearing a white bathrobe, “and it really all started during a seven month stint in solitary confinement.”
McFarland noted that while in prison, he wrote out a “50-page plan” detailing how he would “take this overall interest in Fyre” to bring the festival to fruition in — guess where — the Caribbean.
“Guys, this is your chance to get in,” McFarland said to round-out the video. “This is everything I’ve been working towards — let’s fucking go.”
For anyone who forgot the monstrosity known as Fyre Festival — which even sparked documentaries on Netflix and Hulu — the event was promoted as a “luxury” music festival, founded by now known con artist McFarland and rapper Ja Rule. It was set to take place on the Bahamian Island of Great Exuma in the Caribbean from April 28 to 30 and May 5 to 7 in 2017.
Ticketholders, who shelled out thousands of dollars after social media influencers like Kendall Jenner and Hailey Baldwin promoted the event on Instagram, arrived on the island expecting villas, top-tier chef cuisine, and performances from acts like Pusha T, Blink-182, and Disclosure. However, they were met with damp tents, empty stages, and the now-infamous prepacked sandwiches.
The dinner that @fyrefestival promised us was catered by Steven Starr is literally bread, cheese, and salad with dressing. #fyrefestival pic.twitter.com/I8d0UlSNbd
— Tr3vor (@TrevorDeHaas) April 28, 2017
The festival has gone down as the biggest scam in entertainment history. McFarland was forced to forfeit $26 million and the organizers became the subject of eight lawsuits for defrauding ticket buyers. Alongside ticketholders, Bahamian suppliers were not paid for their services, and a crowdfunding appeal in 2019 raised 200,000 to compensate the caterer. Additionally, proceeds from an auction of Fyre Festival-branded merch by the US Marshals Service went to the victims.
So, the choice to be scammed or not is ultimately yours, but as RollingStone put it: “You absolutely do not have to fucking go.”
