By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.con Music Festivals Editor
He’s at it again.
Billy McFarland is putting on Fyre Festival 2 and based on happened – or more to the point what didn’t happen – with the first one, anyone would seem to be crazy to attend this one.
Promises of luxury accommodations and gourmet meals were actually tents and boxed lunches. Promised talent wasn’t paid and did not perform. McFarland was sent to prison for fraud and yet now he’s promising to put on another high-dollar event. Based on his track record, I can’t imagine who in the world would want to attend Fyre Festival 2, which is supposed to take place May 30-June 2.
This one isn’t exactly starting smootly. The original posted location was Mexico’s Isla Mujeres, although officials there stated they knew nothing about it and nobody had even filed for permits for it. McFarland then announced in March the location is the area around Playa del Carmen. And as of this writing, only one entertainer has been booked. The Fried Festival, or perhaps the Frayed Festival, is more like it.
Still, organizers are trying to convince people it will take place.
“We have been working on building FYRE in Mexico since September,” Nick Lawson, an organizer with the festival, told Yahoo Entertainment in a statement about the event’s relocation.
McFarland said, “we ultimately found the perfect home for FYRE Festival 2 in Playa Del Carmen. Playa has the ideal combinations of beach clubs, hotels, and experiences for our guests. We’ve been welcomed with open arms and couldn’t have asked for a better location partner.”
“I’m not here to make excuses,” McFarland said early in the presentation, which was livestreamed on the festival’s account. “I know I messed up, and I know that you all know that I messed up. I have a long road ahead to attempt to make right for all these wrongs — and that is why I’m here.”
PubClub.com recevied a press release on the first event and posted a story. It seemed like a cool concept but it did not include a media invitation to attend. Good thing, too.
Ticket prices posted on the Fyre Festival 2 website are $1,400, $5,000 and $25,000. If you are interested in attending, I say buyer beware.
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