- Nearly eight years after its disastrous first attempt, Billy McFarland has begun selling tickets for his exclusive music fest, Fyre Festival 2. McFarland, who served four years of prison time for wire fraud relating to the first Fyre Fest, said, "I'd be crazy not to do it again.”
Disgraced Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland is ready to rekindle an old flame. Tickets for Fyre Festival 2, the revamped sequel to a disastrous luxury music event in 2017, went on sale this week. It’s a potential path to redemption for McFarland, 33, who spent nearly four years in prison for wire fraud related to Fyre’s first iteration.
Fyre Festival 2 will take place from May 30 to June 2 on Isla Mujeres in Quintana Roo, Mexico. According to its website, tickets start at $1,400 and run up into seven figures for the $1.1 million “Prometheus” pass, buying guests a 24/7 private chauffeur—including a private jet from Miami to Cancún—a four-bedroom villa, and a list of unspecified “Fyre experiences.” There are 2,000 tickets available for the event.
The festival boasts extreme promises following McFarland’s release from prison in 2022, after admitting to defrauding 80 investors of the event and falsifying documents on the festival’s funding. While the original Fyre Festival promised musical appearances from Blink-182 and Migos and meals catered by renowned chef Stephen Starr, it fell far short. Instead, as detailed in two documentaries, guests munched on cheese sandwiches served in foam containers and stood under water-soaked tents.
"I'm sure many people think I'm crazy for doing this again," McFarland said in a Monday statement announcing ticket sales and booking details. "But I feel I'd be crazy not to do it again. After years of reflection and now thoughtful planning, the new team and I have amazing plans for Fyre 2. The adventure seekers who trust the vision and take the leap will help make history."
The rejigged festival, about three months away, has yet to announce its musical lineup. Instead, “Fyre experiences” will be incrementally released in the days leading up to the event, per the website. McFarland told NBC’s Today show that he is “not in charge of booking the talent,” but said the festival will include hip-hop, pop, rock, and electronic music.
McFarland did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
Playing with Fyre
The exclusivity and luster surrounding Fyre 2 sounds a lot like the April 2017 prototype. The millennial dreamscape turned internet punchline was supposed to be an ultra-exclusive version of Coachella, its status cemented with the involvement of “Fyre starters”—mega-influencers like Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid, and Emily Ratajkowski. Rapper Ja Rule co-organized the event.
But the festival’s true nature became immediately apparent as guests stepped foot on the Great Exuma island of the Bahamas. Many tents were still in boxes and the few staff members around couldn’t give guests a clear answer as to what was going on. Blink-182, one of the event’s headliners, cancelled last minute. What was supposed to be a getaway for the blue-blooded became a Lord of the Flies–esque free-for-all.
“People were stealing beds out of other tents,” one guest told the New York Times. “It was just chaos. Nobody ever came in to check us in to our accommodations, if you can call it that, so they had no idea who was there and who wasn’t.”
Months later in June 2017, authorities arrested McFarland, then 25, and charged him with criminal fraud. A Manhattan federal court found him guilty of one count of wire fraud and sentenced him to six years in prison. McFarland admitted to defrauding investors of $26 million for the festival, as well as $100,000 in phony ticket sales. From 2013 to 2017, McFarland operated a private-events business and exaggerated to investors the potential and success of the venture, according to assistant U.S. attorney Kristy Jean Greenberg.
"The motivation here was greed, a desire to have a flashy lifestyle," Greenberg said at the time, adding that should he serve a shorter prison sentence, "I have no doubt he will be on to the next scam."
