Fyre Festival all about the world’s biggest festival flop
The app before the festival -
Fyre was initially an app that people could use to book high-end talent for their events. The festival was suggested as a way to promote it.
Business partners -
Billy McFarland, CEO of Fyre Media Inc., met Ja Rule through his work in the industry, and enlisted the rapper as a celebrity partner.
Models at work -
A number of famous models appeared in the promotional video, including Hailey Bieber, Emily Ratajkowski, and Bella Hadid.
Keep Escobar out of it -
The festival was planned to be held at Norman's Cay, which was once used as a transshipment base for smuggling cocaine by the Medellín cartel.
New location -
The festival was then relocated to Roker's Point, which wasn't a private island like they've promised festivalgoers.
An immersive festival -
Described as an "immersive festival," it was supposed to be over two weekends in 2017: April 28-30 and May 5-7.
Ticket prices -
Day tickets were sold from US$500 to $1,500. VIP packages, which included airfare and luxury tent accommodations, were sold for up to $12,000.
How they tried to solve the water problem - Just before the festival was due to begin, Bahamian customs seized trucks full of water that came with an additional cost: a US$175,000 import fee.
No acts wanted to participate -
None of the acts actually showed up once word of the disastrous reality got out on social media.
The wristbands -
Realizing they didn't have enough money for the festival, McFarland tried to get attendees to add money to wristbands that they could use to buy things while at the event.
Getting more money -
This involved people getting phone calls from someone telling them they should add money, and claiming that the majority of attendees were adding around US$3,000.
There was no VIP flight -
Ticket holders were told they would fly in from Miami on a custom, VIP-configured Boeing 737. In reality, they ended up waiting for hours at the airport.
The ticket cost was meant to include gourmet food - Guests were expecting Starr Catering Group to be there, but the group had terminated its services with Fyre in early April 2017.
People tried to leave -
With all the chaos, people tried to fly back to Miami. But for some, that wasn't possible, and they ended up stranded at the airport.
McFarland continued defrauding people after the festival - while he was out of bail McFarland continued defrauding people by selling fake event tickets via NYC VIP Access.
His sentence -
In October 2018, he was sentenced to six years in prison, three years probation, and to pay restitution of US$26 million.
Documentaries -
Both Hulu's 'Fyre Fraud' (2019) and Netflix’s 'Fyre: The Greatest Party that Never Happened' (2019) expose the chain of events that created the fiasco that was Fyre Festival.