Fyre Festival appeared to be a total sh*t show, Blink-182 cancel headlining set
Fyre Festival was advertised as “the unparalleled best in music, cuisine, design & hospitality on a private island in the Exumas”—but according to patrons, the experience was anything but luxurious.
Originally, festival goers were promised a roundtrip to the Bahamas on a custom, VIP Boeing 737 aircraft, which would escort them from Miami International Airport to Exuma International Airport. According to BuzzFeed, Tickets cost between $2,000 to $12,000. The Wall Street Journal reported that tickets were up to $250,000.
Two weekend options were available: this weekend (April 28 – 30) and next weekend (May 5 – 7).
Advertisements for this festival started in December. In fact, you can still find some of the original teaser videos on their Facebook.
Those luxurious videos on Fyre Fest’s Instagram continued up until the festival.
According to Vanity Fair, the festival is a product of Fyre Media, a booking company from rapper Ja Rule and his tech partner Billy McFarland.
However, not only have Fyre not delivered on their luxurious accommodations, but it seems they also haven’t delivered on basic necessities, such as adequate food, housing and electricity.
Expectation v. Reality for the biggest scamming festival in the 21st Century #FyreFestival@WNFIV @FyreFraud pic.twitter.com/75SZb6iDdm
— Alex Sanchez (@AXELSCYTHE) April 28, 2017
Expectation vs. Reality#fyre #fyrefestival pic.twitter.com/U80NApajxl
— William N. Finley IV (@WNFIV) April 28, 2017
That Twitter user was dropped off on the beach without any instruction.
And it's kind of a total shitshow @fyrefestival dropped us off at a beach yesterday after the airport without telling us any plan…
— Amanda Rost (@amanda_rost) April 28, 2017
Leaving the island was also a struggle. Some were stuck on planes for hours. One guest has posted a video of the doors of the airport being chained shut.
We have been locked indoors with no air NO FOOD and NO water #fyrefestival #fyrefest fyrefraud pic.twitter.com/wg5pZmSvnx
— Lamaan (@LamaanGallal) April 28, 2017
Welcome to Exuma! Sunrise at Fyre Fest. Still on the same plane we've been on since 1:30 am. My stomach is eating itself. #fyrefestival pic.twitter.com/dammDl4auy
— William N. Finley IV (@WNFIV) April 28, 2017
That Twitter user, William Finley, documented his entire experience on social media and spoke to Buzzfeed News.
So Fyre Fest is a complete disaster. Mass chaos. No organization. No one knows where to go. There are no villas, just a disaster tent city. pic.twitter.com/1lSWtnk7cA
— William N. Finley IV (@WNFIV) April 27, 2017
“It's just all unbelievable,” he says. “We saw that it was kind of suspect in the weeks leading up but we gave them the benefit of the doubt, thinking they'd pull it off in time. It was complete chaos.”
He added accommodations were not set up when guests arrived. The food was apparently reminiscent of “state fair and not the world-class international culinary experience that they advertised,” he continues.
Here's the “culinary experience” we got for our artists pass at Fyre Festival. pic.twitter.com/Kk9q9uvkX0
— William N. Finley IV (@WNFIV) April 28, 2017
One of the kitchens at Fyre Festival. #fyre #fyrefest #fyrefestival pic.twitter.com/gQIpwxrw6S
— William N. Finley IV (@WNFIV) April 28, 2017
A view of the luxury food court with some luxury school bus transportation at Fyre Festival. #fyre #fyrefestival pic.twitter.com/XL3PtRw8q0
— William N. Finley IV (@WNFIV) April 28, 2017
These are the secure lockers at Fyre Fest. They forgot to tell us we needed locks. #fyrefestival #fyrefest pic.twitter.com/Tqyjqbg2Gy
— William N. Finley IV (@WNFIV) April 28, 2017
This sums up Fyre Festival. #fyre #fyrefestival #fyrefest pic.twitter.com/x4xcFBL8Yg
— William N. Finley IV (@WNFIV) April 28, 2017
This is how Fyre Fest handles luggage. Just drop it out of a shipping container. At night. With no lights. #fyrefestival pic.twitter.com/X5CdZRyJWo
— William N. Finley IV (@WNFIV) April 28, 2017
Live from Fyre Festival. https://t.co/gi9dXgQAzE
— William N. Finley IV (@WNFIV) April 28, 2017
We've left Fyre Fest. We're now at the airport. Goodbye, Fyre Fest, we hardly knew ye. pic.twitter.com/QGobnJo2bW
— William N. Finley IV (@WNFIV) April 28, 2017
The line of ex Fyre Festers at the Exuma International Airport. Yes that's throw up. #fyre #fyrefestival pic.twitter.com/jSZHg0F0Kn
— William N. Finley IV (@WNFIV) April 28, 2017
Also, we found a notebook from one of the Fyre Fest planners on the ground. It is amazing. #fyrefestival #fyre pic.twitter.com/jFib0nO2RW
— William N. Finley IV (@WNFIV) April 28, 2017
We have now gotten off the plane because they can't get the headcount and the manifest to match up. This is fine. #fyrefestival #fyre pic.twitter.com/W89nddb6Fe
— William N. Finley IV (@WNFIV) April 28, 2017
We have to get off the plane because we've been sitting on the runway too long. They have to bring in a new crew. #fyrefestival pic.twitter.com/jMCRUy4PsC
— William N. Finley IV (@WNFIV) April 28, 2017
A guy just passed out in the airport because it's so hot since they locked us in. The guards got into it with some guys. #fyrefestival
— William N. Finley IV (@WNFIV) April 28, 2017
They finally opened the doors to let some air in. The guy is ok. #fyrefestival pic.twitter.com/D7j5qtzsGi
— William N. Finley IV (@WNFIV) April 28, 2017
According to Vanity Fair, 40 acts were scheduled to perform. Some of the headlining artists for Fyre Festival included Blink-182, G.O.O.D Music and Major Lazer. Blink-182 cancelled both their performances at the festival yesterday through this post on their social media, citing that they were “not confident that [they] would have what [they] need to give you the quality of performances [they] always give their fans.”
— blink-182 (@blink182) April 27, 2017
Blink-182 and KAYTRANADA are, at this point, the only ones to have tweeted about the festival.
— KAYTRANADA (@KAYTRANADA) April 28, 2017
Others are relieved they didn’t perform.
This is insane. We almost played this thing ��#fyrefestival https://t.co/3ax5raMjaO pic.twitter.com/HqywdmOL1m
— The Knocks (@theknocks) April 28, 2017
A Twitter account called Fyre Festival Fraud has already been created, documenting the disparities between what was promised and what was delivered. It has shown that the tents that guests of the festival were given were actually leftover disaster relief shelters from Hurricane Matthew.
The luxury festival tents are left over disaster relief shelters from @USAID Fyre Festival scammed us! https://t.co/kW4olVKgzY #fyrefestival pic.twitter.com/8QYkQ3jIPR
— FyreFestivalFraud (@FyreFraud) April 25, 2017
@FyreFraud Just a reminder of what “The Duo” was originally sold as pic.twitter.com/gKz90zNBvu
— Michele Smith (@MicheleSmi) April 27, 2017
The “#FyreFestival” hashtag on Twitter has featured many guests of the festival sharing their experiences, including the festival feeding their guests pieces of bread with cheese, an unfinished concierge tent along with hardly any electricity.
@FyreFraud Here's the dinner they fed us tonight. Literally slices of bread, cheese, and salad with no dressing. #fyrefraud #fyrefestival #dumpsterfyre pic.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
The festival has taken to Instagram to respond to the criticisms they’re receiving online, writing that they’d be postponing the festival. You can read their entire post below.
Yet, according to The Observer, the festival looked to be doomed before it even started. The Wall Street Journal stated:
“Its organizers missed a series of deadlines to make advance payments to performers. Last week, some artists still hadn’t been paid what they were owed based on the terms of their contracts, according to people familiar with the matter, but the event’s promoters in recent days made progress in catching up with payments, and in some cases have paid acts in full.”
Fyre Festival’s website was erased of any content during the controversy, and they’ve prevented any comments being made on their Instagram. However, archived versions of the website show what was promised, such as a treasure hunt featuring “rare luxuries, over $1 million in treasure, and perhaps an island of one’s very own.”
The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism released this statement:
Bahamas official statement on Fyre Festival #FyreFestival pic.twitter.com/NQo8AmXZlQ
— The Bahamas (@VisitTheBahamas) April 28, 2017
As of this morning, Fyre Festival has updated its website with the following message:
“Fyre Festival set out to provide a once-in-a-lifetime musical experience on the Islands of the Exumas.
Due to circumstances out of our control, the physical infrastructure was not in place on time and we are unable to fulfill on that vision safely and enjoyably for our guests. At this time, we are working tirelessly to get flights scheduled and get everyone off of Great Exuma and home safely as quickly as we can. We ask that guests currently on-island do not make their own arrangements to get to the airport as we are coordinating those plans. We are working to place everyone on complimentary charters back to Miami today; this process has commenced and the safety and comfort of our guests is our top priority.
The festival is being postponed until we can further assess if and when we are able to create the high-quality experience we envisioned.
We ask for everyone's patience and cooperation during this difficult time as we work as quickly and safely as we can to remedy this unforeseeable situation. We will continue to provide regular updates via email to our guests and via our official social media channels as they become available.
-The Fyre Festival Team”
Fyre Festival organizers right now. #fyre #fyrefestival pic.twitter.com/2xM1w4iWwm
— William N. Finley IV (@WNFIV) April 28, 2017
