As festival season begins, beware of new, curiously financed, overpriced music events. Fyre Fest, underwritten by Ja Rule and Billy McFarland, a 26-year-old entrepreneur and founder of a tech company named Spling, was intended to be a kind of luxury Coachella, advertised on its now-nonfunctioning website “as a cultural moment created from a blend of music, art, and food.”
Fans paid anywhere from $4,000 to $12,000 to be flown on a private jet to an island in the Bahamas where acts like Blink 182 and Rae Sremmurd were scheduled to perform. The event was advertised with a video featuring superstar models Bella Hadid and Emily Ratajkowski lounging casually on a yacht. There was even a VIP package that included facetime with artists performing at the festival for $250,000.
Except, according to reports from the ground, nothing about the festival's opening night was luxurious. What look like disaster relief tents, many of which seem to be mid-assembly, were intended to serve as the guests’ “villas.” There were reports on the festival’s official reddit page of security guards throwing people out of tents, and in photos you can see staff hurling guests’ luggage out of a shipping container. The food situation is even more dire: One guest reported a boxed lunch of salad with no dressing, two pieces of bread, and some loose cheese.
@FyreFraud Here's the dinner they fed us tonight. Literally slices of bread, cheese, and salad with no dressing. #fyrefraud#fyrefestival#dumpsterfyrepic.twitter.com/NmNXakSFlq
— Tr3vor (@trev4president) April 28, 2017
Stuck at #fyrefestival trying to leave for the last 8 hours. barley any food or water or security or electricity pic.twitter.com/jHPMnJw5gx
— Lamaan (@LamaanGallal) April 28, 2017
One of the kitchens at Fyre Festival. #fyre#fyrefest#fyrefestivalpic.twitter.com/gQIpwxrw6S
— William N. Finley IV (@WNFIV) April 28, 2017
Blink 182, who were scheduled to perform, released a statement on Thursday night pulling out of the festival, perhaps anticipating the chaos. “Regrettably, and after much careful and difficult consideration, we want to let you know that we won't be performing at Fyre Fest in the Bahamas this weekend and next weekend,” the band said in a note posted on Twitter. “We’re not confident that we would have what we need to give you the quality of performances we always give fans.”
Early this morning, the festival released an official statement promising "a great experience" for those who managed to make it to the island. However, about six hours later, a series of messages posted to the festival’s Twitter account said, “After assessing the situation this morning and looking at best options for our guests, we cannot move forward as we hoped we could.” The hashtag #fyrefestival has become a trending topic on Twitter, for all the wrong reasons.
Representatives for Fyre Festival did not immediately return a request for comment.
