Doomed music event Fyre Festival is getting a reboot – with tickets for the second attempt on sale now for $499 (€458).
The original festival, organised by Billy McFarland, was scheduled to take place in the Bahamas in 2017 but caused more than $26 million in losses when it was cancelled for inadequate accommodation, food and water.
The festival was promoted with the help of influencers like Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid as a luxury event where guests were promised opulent accommodation and deluxe food, with tickets costing tens of thousands of dollars.
But when ticket holders arrived they were met with a rain-sodden campsite and emergency tents used for disaster relief, while their luggage was thrown into a dark car park and what was supposed to be gourmet food turned out to be cheese sandwiches in takeaway containers.
Many businesses involved in the event were not paid, with one restaurant owner telling Netflix documentary FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened in 2019 that she lost thousands catering for the festival.
McFarland was jailed after pleading guilty to fraud in 2018.
After being released last year, he is planning a second incarnation – which he devised during a stint in solitary confinement – of the doomed venture.
He offered no details but said he considered holding the festival in the Middle East or South America but ultimately decided to bring the event “back to the Caribbean”, saying: “We are targeting Fyre Festival 2 for the end of next year.”
In a video on TikTok and Instagram, he said: “It has been the absolute wildest journey to get here and it really all started during the seven-month stint in solitary confinement.
“I wrote out this 50-page plan of how it would take this overall interest and demand in Fyre, and how it would take my ability to bring people from around the world together to make the impossible happen, how I would find the best partners in the world to allow me to be me while executing Fyre’s vision to the highest level.”
He added: “In the meantime, we’ll be doing pop-ups and events across the world. Guys, this is your chance to get in. This is everything I’ve been working towards. Let’s f***ing go.”
The first 100 tickets are on sale now and cost $499, but prices increase as more tickets sell. The tickets yet to be released cost between $799 and $7,999.
A disclaimer on the website says: “FII date is subject to change. Pre-events and pop-ups to be announced, but FYRE will host a minimum of 4 events prior to FFII.”
McFarland has already announced plans to make a Broadway musical about Fyre Festival.
The inaugural event, co-organised by rapper Ja Rule, was due to take place from April 28th-30th and May 5th-7th on the islands of the Exumas.
An advert for the festival promised “an immersive music festival on a remote and private island in the Exhumas. The best in food, art, music and adventure”
It also claimed to be “on the boundaries of the impossible”.
