Billy McFarland sets date for Fyre Festival II
A date and location has been set for the sequel to the infamous Fyre Festival, according to the event’s founder Billy McFarland.
The convicted fraudster claims Fyre Festival II will take place on a private Caribbean island on 25 April next year.
“Since 2016 Fyre has been the most talked about music festival in the world,” said McFarland in a new interview. “Obviously, a lot of that has been negative, but I think that most people, once they kind of get under the hood and study the plans and see the team behind Fyre II, they see the upside.
“We have the chance to embrace this storm and really steer our ship into all the chaos that has happened, and if it’s done well, I think Fyre has a chance to be this annual festival that really takes over the festival industry.”
The inaugural edition was slated to run over two weekends in 2017 in Grand Exuma in the Bahamas. Fans paid between $1,500 and $50,000 for tickets with the promise of luxury accommodation, gourmet food and music.
Artists advertised included Pusha T, Tyga, Desiigner, Blink-182, Major Lazer, Disclosure, Migos, Rae Sremmurd, Kaytranada, Lil Yachty, Matoma and Skepta. But the event spectacularly collapsed on its first day when ticket-holders arrived to find half-built tents, a dearth of performers and insufficient food.
“I think there’s a large number of people who want to go to Fyre II because they’re unsure of the outcome, and they would like to have a front-row seat”
McFarland was jailed in 2018 and fined $26 million for his part in the debacle after admitting defrauding investors and running a fraudulent ticketing scam, while Fyre was immortalised in two documentaries – Hulu’s Fyre Fraud and Netflix’s Fyre: The Greatest Party that Never Happened.
The 32-year-old entrepreneur was released from prison in 2022 and revealed he was working on a follow-up to the festival last year.
“It’s in the best interest of those I owe for me to be working,” he said at the time. “People aren’t getting paid back if I sit on the couch and watch TV.”
Unlike the original Fyre, McFarland says the 2025 incarnation will utilise existing infrastructure such as hotels and restaurants. In addition, a production firm will handle all the logistics.
“We have a private island off the coast of Mexico in the Caribbean, and we have an incredible production company who’s handling everything from soup to nuts,” McFarland told NBC News. “I think there’s a large number of people who want to go to Fyre II because they’re unsure of the outcome, and they would like to have a front-row seat no matter what happens. Thankfully, we have good partners who will make sure they’re safe and obviously make sure things work out.”
“We put applications for the million-dollar ticket up a few months ago; we had over 100 people apply”
Moreover, McFarland said he had already shifted 100 early bird tickets at $500 a pop, with packages to go on sale ranging from $1,400 (€1,270) to $1.1m (€1m). Asked what the seven-figure deals include, he said: “You will be on a boat. You’ll be scuba diving with me, you’ll be bouncing around to other islands and other countries on small planes.
“We put applications for the million-dollar ticket up a few months ago; we had over 100 people apply.”
He acknowledged, however, that it would be difficult to win over those let down by the 2017 calamity.
“I think it’s hard because this is the deeper issue where there are people who were legitimately hurt and let down from Fyre 1,” he said. “There’s a lot of work that needs to be done to repay those people.”
Adding that no artists had been booked for the event at this point, he elaborated: “It’s not going to be just music. For example, Karate Combat, we’re in talks with them to set up a pit to have live fights at Fyre Festival II.”
And in reference to the viral image of the cheese sandwich in a takeaway box that became synonymous with Fyre 1.0, McFarland joked: “We will have cheese sandwiches. They’re going to be super-expensive too, we’re going to make them really good. That will be the highest-priced food item I think.”
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Florida venues open doors as Irma batters state
Sports and entertainment venues were used as shelter for Floridians seeking refuge from Hurricane Irma, which tore through the Caribbean and south-eastern United States over the weekend.
Irma, a category-five hurricane and the most intense observed in the Atlantic in more than a decade, forced the cancellation of shows, festivals and sports matches in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, and is believed to have left nearly 50 people dead, including 11 Americans.
In Florida, more than 6.5 million people were under mandatory evacuation orders, and many rode out the worst of the storm in shelters in Alico Arena (4,500-cap.) in Fort Myers and Germain Arena (concert cap. 8,500+) in Estero, with shelter staff assisted by National Guardsmen, sheriff’s deputies and motorway police. Both venues were reportedly at capacity by Saturday afternoon.
One person taking shelter in Germain Arena, Krystal Malpass, told the Fort Myers News-Press she didn’t know what to expect from the shelter but that staff had been “extremely nice”.
In Florida more than 6.5m people were under evacuation orders, and many rode out the storm in arenas
An estimated 800 people also sough refuge at the Sun Dome (10,411-cap.) arena at the University of South Florida in Tampa, while aseball team Detroit Tigers opened their clubhouses in Lakeland, Florida, to evacuees and emergency staff.
While the state’s arenas, including the 20,000-cap. American Airlines Arena in Miami, weathered the worst of the storm relatively unscathed, there have been reports of damage at several open-air venues.
Marlins Park, a 37,442-cap. stadium in Miami, reportedly suffered around 6% damage to its retractable roof, while the Hard Rock Stadium (65,326-cap.) in Miami Gardens is under inspection by structural engineers for potential damage.
At the time of writing, Irma had been downgraded to a tropical storm – although three million people are thought to have been left homeless in the US alone, with many more affected in the Caribbean and other Atlantic islands.
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