Fyre Festival, the Coachella for the super rich, ends in disaster

When they arrived at festival site in Exuma, guests said they found a dreary, half-finished campsite

What ticket holders thought would be a weekend in paradise turned into a nightmare when a super exclusive music festival in the Bahamas became a disorganised mess, stranding attendees who in some cases paid tens of thousands of dollars.

Hyped by glossy ads featuring such supermodels as Kendall Jenner and Emily Ratajkowski, the Fyre Festival promised “the culture experience of the decade” in a tropical wonderland of yachts, villas, and gourmet cuisine. Ticket prices went into five figures for special VIP treatment, though general admission packages were available starting at $1,200.

When they arrived at the festival site in Exuma, guests said they found a dreary, half-finished campsite. They described their “luxury” accommodations as disaster relief tents, many still unbuilt. Baggage arrived in a shipping container. For dinner, they were served bread, cold cuts, cheese slices, and a side salad in a styrofoam box.

Marquee names such as Pusha T, Major Lazer, Disclosure, and Migos were scheduled to play. Blink 182 cancelled just before the event, citing concerns the band wouldn’t “have what we need” to give a quality performance. In the weeks leading up to the festival date, organisers allegedly missed payment deadlines to artists and were scrambling to pay the acts in full, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

The event was organised by rapper Ja Rule and entrepreneur Billy McFarland, who is also the founder and chief executive officer of Magnises, a social club for “elite” millennials. According to a report by Business Insider, some members of that enterprise claimed last-minute trip cancellations, scheduling failures, and unwanted charges on their cards. McFarland didn’t immediately return a call and text seeking comment.

Rule, a musician whose real name is Jeffrey Atkins, said in a message posted on Twitter that the Fyer Festival “was not a scam” and that he didn’t know how “everything went so left.” 

The festival’s namesake is Fyre Media, a talent booking start-up founded by Rule and McFarland in 2015. “We didn’t just want to be a tech company that was a pure enterprise with no consumer awareness,” McFarland said in a recent Vanity Fair interview. “So a festival was a great way to go and do that and beyond people who are attending.”

Things apparently didn’t turn out as planned. Festival organisers said Friday they are “working tirelessly” to get attendees home safely.

“Due to circumstances out of our control, the physical infrastructure was not in place on time and we are unable to fulfil on that vision safely and enjoyably for our guests,” the organisers said in a statement. “The festival is being postponed until we can further assess if and when we are able to create the high-quality experience we envisioned.”

The event’s implosion was so calamitous it prompted a Bahamian government agency to issue a statement on the matter. “We are extremely disappointed in the way the events unfolded yesterday with the Fyre Festival. We offer a heartfelt apology to all who travelled to our country for this event,” the Ministry of Tourism said Friday.

Bloomberg