Within recent years, the popularity of Coachella and music festival culture has grown significantly. Once you put the cultural appropriation aside, it does seem kind of fun: a weekend getaway with your friends seeing indie artists perform live under the sun. Taking after the tradition of O.G. festivals like Woodstock, these weekend-long outdoor concerts are usually held in sparse areas such as deserts or fields and are usually pretty cheap if you’re going to a local one (however, Coachella is $400 for 3-day general admission).
So the term “luxury music festival” sounds like a paradox. With no air conditioning, restrooms, and often no shade, music festivals are anything but. But that’s what New York-based rapper Ja Rule wanted to create when he came up with Fyre Fest.
Fyre Fest was marketed as an “immersive music experience” that would not take place in the desert, but on the Exumas Islands in the Bahamas. There, acts including G.O.O.D. Music, Blink-182, Matoma, and more were scheduled to perform, and guests were promised “first-class culinary experiences and a luxury atmosphere.” At press time, the Fyre website has currently been replaced with a staff apology letter, but guests claim that one package deal included private yachts and planes to bring guests to the Exumas and could reach up to six figures.
Oh, and Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner starred in the promotional videos. If those rich Instagram kids weren’t sold on everything above before, then they definitely were now.
Festival-goers began arriving on Thursday, April 27. And what they found was definitely not a “luxury music festival.” William Finley IV, a North Carolina-based reporter, tweeted the event in real time.
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 Needham Finley IV(It’s real. I made it up) (@WNFIV) April 27, 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 Needham Finley IV(It’s real. I made it up) (@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 Needham Finley IV(It’s real. I made it up) (@WNFIV) April 28, 2017
Basically, thousands of people paid up to six figures and instead of dancing with Kendall Jenner to Blink-182, got your Texas aunt’s local festival roadshow. And speaking of Blink-182, they canceled their appearance due to the apparent lack of organization Fyre Fest presented.
According to Finley & several other reports from Twitter and Reddit, the billed “glamping” tents were only half-constructed, the supposed five-star meals were slices of cheese on bread with a small side salad, and security lockers came without locks. And the worst part? Staff and security were allegedly absent, leaving jilted guests to brawl with other festival-goers and even locals.
However, the majority of the Internet seems to be reveling in this turn of events for the bourgeoisie.
Rich guy on Twitter: your health/safety is not our responsibility
Rich guy at #FyreFestival: HELLO POLICE MY SANDWICH IS BAD SEND EVERYONE
— Dan Sheehan (@ItsDanSheehan) April 28, 2017
#FyreFestival is my favorite. You paid 12k to go see JaRule in the Bahamas? And when you GOT there was when you realized you got ripped off?
— Chris D'Elia (@chrisdelia) April 28, 2017
I had NO clue what #FyreFestival was 4 min ago. Now its my fav 2017 trending story. Just sitting @ my desk @ my low-wage job following along
— Kailah Borchers, MS Ed. (@kailahtaran) April 28, 2017
“Due to circumstances out of our control, the physical infrastructure was not in place on time and we are unable to fulfill that vision safely and enjoyable for our guests,” Fyre Fest wrote on their website this morning. “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.”
