A luxury festival on a private island in the Bahamas has descended into chaos after attendees turned up to what looked like a half finished building site.
The festival was organised by Ja Rule and was set to feature performances from Blink-182, Skepta, Rae Sremmurd and more. The event has since been likened to a disaster zone following fans reports surfacing online.
Fyre Festival was advertised online as a hyper-glamorous getaway and was endorsed by supermodels including Kendall Jenner, Emily Ratajkowski, and Bella Hadid. Tickets for the festival were priced between $4,000 and $12,000.
Fans were reportedly subjected to nine-hour delays getting onto the island and finally, on arrival, the destination was angrily likened to a “refugee camp“. Complaints on Reddit and social media mounted exposing the festival describing mountains of rubbish, half built tents and substandard meals served in polystyrene boxes.
In case you’re wondering, those “cabanas” are actually disaster relief tents.#fyrefestival pic.twitter.com/jaZpkIKVT2
— Matt Halfhill (@MattHalfhill) April 28, 2017
As the news spread of the festivals, shoddy conditions festival goers preparing for flights from Miami International airport were left stranded on the runway as flights were canceled.
Early report is that many of the tents aren’t assembled. Here’s their tropical private island owned by Escobar! #FyreFestival pic.twitter.com/TNzBDbNAUJ
— FyreFestivalFraud (@FyreFraud) April 27, 2017
The festival was due to host performances from Major Lazer, Disclosure, Kaytranada and G.O.O.D. Music artists. Blink-182 took to Twitter to make a statement canceling their appearance at the festival. The band said; “we’re not confident that we would have what we need to give you the quality of performances we always give fans”. See the full statement below.
— blink-182 (@blink182) April 27, 2017
The festival issued a statement via Twitter regarding the chaotic atmosphere thanking ticket holders for “bearing with us as we attempt to accommodate guest needs” after the “unexpected start.” The festival also confirmed that inbound flights to the Exumas destination had been canceled and that they were currently working on refunding those affected.
Of course, the internet did what it does best and a number of hilarious tweets and posts have made their way across social media. See these posts below.
Latest scenes at #fyrefestival pic.twitter.com/VPCyZvthaT
— Adam N. Fleming (@AdamNFleming) April 28, 2017
Me, broke in my apartment knowing that rich people at #fyrefestival are LARP-ing Lord of the Flies right now: pic.twitter.com/o8zbFUBRWo
— ˉ\_(ツ)_/ˉ (@_stevendavidson) April 28, 2017
Craziest thing ive read so far #Fyrefestival pic.twitter.com/ZzF8Fl1TKW
— Name cannot be blank (@_ALEXGEM) April 28, 2017
From the influencers and Instagram models that brought you #fyrefestival comes a new, high-end, luxury, small town retreat experience pic.twitter.com/7laxQMO9Gu
— Alex Rhodes (@AlRhodes92) April 28, 2017
You paid $12k to go see Blink-182 headlined festival hosted by Ja Rule in 2017?!?!?!?!? #fyrefestival pic.twitter.com/QcYj2z67vf
— Meaks (@MeaksB) April 28, 2017
Hey @GordonRamsay what would you rate #fyrefestival gourmet meals? pic.twitter.com/SYJIgwAIYp
— Rain Man (@omgRainMan) April 28, 2017
When that super expensive #fyrefestival turns into Kamp Krusty real quick. #dumpsterfyre pic.twitter.com/UI4GSZCeyM
— Daniel Marsh (@realdanmarsh) April 28, 2017
It is currently unclear what actions will be taken by Fyre Festival or whether more acts will pull out of the event, but speculation is pointing to the full event being canceled.
