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It’s been more than seven years since the infamous Fyre Festival descended into the millennial influencer version of Lord of the Flies, and Billy McFarland insisted he’s learned from his mistakes while announcing a rebooted version of the ill-fated gathering will unfold next year.
By now, I feel most people are familiar with what transpired when hundreds of people flocked to Great Exuma in the Bahamas at the end of April 2017 for Fyre Festival, an event that promised luxurious accommodations and a star-studded lineup of guests and performers that ended up being one of the most unmitigated disasters in entertainment history.
Both Netflix and Hulu eventually commissioned documentaries chronicling the many, many ways Fyre Festival mastermind Billy McFarland mishandled the debacle that led to him being sentenced to six years in federal prison after pleading guilty to fraud while being ordered to pay $26 million in restitution.
McFarland was ultimately freed in 2022 and wasted no time teasing new ventures while hinting it was only a matter of time until he attempted to stage Fyre Festival 2.0. It took a couple of years for that promise to come to fruition, but it would appear he’s managed to convince some new investors things will be different the second time around.
According to NBC News, McFarland has confirmed Fyre Festival II will kick off on a currently unspecified “private island off of the Caribbean coast in Mexico” on April 25, 2025 before coming to a close on the 28th.
As things currently stand, prospective attendees can attempt to secure the 3,000 tickets that “are available by application only” available at four pricing tiers: FYRE Starter ($1,400), FYRE VIP ($5,000), FYRE Artist Pass ($25,000), and PROMETHEUS (a staggering $1.1 million).
It’s not entirely clear what that last one will get you, but McFarland told the outlet it will include “luxury yachts, scuba diving and island hopping.”
The convicted con man attempted to assuage concerns about a potential repeat of the first Fyre Festival by saying he’s hired a production company to handle the logistics, amenities, and “all the stuff that I clearly don’t know how to do,” and while he acknowledged they haven’t booked any acts at the time of the announcement, he’s presumably confident that won’t be the case by the time April rolls around.
More updates are expected to come out in the coming months, and there’s little doubt plenty of eyes will be on that private island off of the Caribbean coast in Mexico next April.