It’s been seven years since the disastrous Fyre Festival, but founder Billy McFarland insists that a second attempt is still in the works despite missing some key components.
“What’s up, guys? This is the big day, because, as of right now, Fyre Festival II tickets are officially on sale,” McFarland, clad in a fluffy white robe, announced in a video uploaded to his personal YouTube channel last summer.
The original Fyre Festival took place on the island of Great Exuma in the Bahamas. “Took place” is loose parlance — sure, people arrived in the Bahamas for a music festival. But they were greeted with catastrophe: The promised “luxury lodging” was actually tents, “gourmet food” was haphazard cheese sandwiches, and artists set to perform simply weren’t there.
The infamous event was chronicled in two dueling documentaries: Netflix’s “FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened” and Hulu’s “Fyre Fraud.” McFarland himself was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud charges tied to the festival. He was released in March 2022 after serving less than four years.
McFarland first announced his intent to engineer a second Fyre Festival in an April 2023 post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. Ticket sales began despite there being absolutely no details about what the event would entail, and McFarland claimed his first batch of 100 tickets sold out. More than a year after McFarland’s initial announcement, plenty of questions still remain about the festival.
Here’s everything we know about Fyre Festival II — and be warned, it’s not a lot.
When did Billy McFarland get out of prison?
McFarland was released from federal prison in March 2022 and transferred into “community confinement” in New York. Entertainment Weekly reported that he’s since been on supervised release.
McFarland spent time in solitary confinement in 2020 and 2021 after participating in an interview on the podcast “Dumpster Fyre,” his attorney told Business Insider. It was there, McFarland said, that he dreamed up his new venture.
“It really all started during this seven-month stint in solitary confinement,” he said in the Fyre Festival II announcement video. “I wrote out this 50-page plan of how I would take this overall interest and demand in Fyre, and how I would take my ability to bring people from around the world together to make the impossible happen, but 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.”
McFarland also said in an April X post, after announcing Fyre Festival II, that it was “in the best interest” of the people to whom he owes money for him to continue working.
When and where is Fyre Festival II?
Vaguely in the Caribbean, and vaguely toward the end of 2024.
That’s it. According to the festival’s website, the event’s location is “The Caribbean,” with a Google Maps link to the “Caribbean Sea.”
But the festival likely won’t be in the Bahamas again. The Ministry of Tourism told CBS News in a statement that the “government of The Bahamas will not endorse or approve any event associated with” McFarland, saying that he’s “considered to be a fugitive” in the nation.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, conducted in June and published on Thursday, McFarland said that his festival partners would be scouting locations in Honduras, Belize, Turks and Caicos, Jamaica, and Panama. The WSJ reported that discussions about the festival taking place in Honduras have been ongoing since February according to Coral View Beach Resort owner Heath Miller.
The website lists Friday, December 6, as the date of the festival, though in his announcement video, McFarland said that they were vaguely “targeting Fyre Festival II for the end of next year.” Small type at the bottom of the fest’s website acknowledges the date is “subject to change.”
This time around, McFarland will be working with an unnamed production company that bought a 51% stake in Fyre Media, a talent management company, and a US festival operator. McFarland will be more hands-on with the festival’s marketing and promotional events.
McFarland knows there’s a lot of pressure on his second edition of Fyre Festival and told the WSJ that he wouldn’t publicly name his business partners yet.
“I don’t want the negativity that I bring to kill something before it’s ready,” he said.
Can you buy tickets to Fyre Festival II?
Tickets will be released in waves and at increasing price points, encouraging would-be festival-goers to get in early. The next 400 tickets, supposedly going on sale “soon,” will cost $799, the subsequent 100 $1,199, the next 50 $1,799, and so on. The final listed ticket tier, “pre-sale last chance,” will cost $7,999, according to the website.
But there aren’t any listed dates for when those batches of tickets will be available. The website also previously linked to a wait-list form, which included a callout not only for attendees, but also investors, performers, vendors, and workers, and asked, “Why you?” However, the domain has since expired.
According to the festival website and McFarland himself, the first wave of tickets has already sold out — but it’s difficult to verify that claim. At least a couple of people seem to have genuinely bought tickets, though: The Washington Post and CBS News both spoke to Victoria Medvedenko, who purchased tickets for her and her boyfriend at $549.89 each.
Medvedenko, a 20-year-old nursing student, told the Washington Post she wasn’t very concerned about how the festival might turn out. “I’m sure I’ll get my money back so I don’t really see it as much of a loss either way.”
Her boyfriend, Cooper Sinkiawic, told CBS News the couple’s biggest worry was whether major acts would be willing to sign on to the festival. While they’re “optimistic,” he said, they’re not ruling out the possibility of “some cheese sandwiches.”
McFarland announced in a since-deleted statement on his Instagram in August 2023 that all revenue from ticket sales would be held in escrow until the announcement of the final date — meaning that a third party will hold them until that condition is satisfied. In his WSJ interview, McFarland reiterated that the money from the aforementioned sales remains in escrow.
Who’s on the lineup for Fyre Festival II?
There isn’t one yet. So, again: TBD!
McFarland told the WSJ that he has a few ideas for potential entertainers, including Karate Combat, a karate fighting league.
As for other events, McFarland said in his announcement video that he was working with “one of the biggest and best TV companies in the world” to produce yet another documentary titled “After the Fyre.” He also said he was working with “one of the biggest production companies” on a deal to produce “Fyre Festival: The Broadway Musical,” which is admittedly much more intriguing than the prospect of another Fyre Festival itself.
According to McFarland, there will also be pop-ups and events “around the world” in the lead-up to the festival — at least four, per the festival site.
Now, only time will tell if everything manifests by the end of 2024 — but McFarland doesn’t seem fazed.
“This is everything I’ve been working towards,” he said in the video. “Let’s fucking go.”
An email address listed for inquiries on the Fyre Festival II website did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for further information and comment. McFarland didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment sent via X.
Read the full article here
