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FYRE Festival founder Billy McFarland has reassured revelers that the proper permits are in place for the rapidly approaching multi-day event in Mexico.
McFarland proclaimed that the second installment of Fyre Festival will be an opportunity for him to amend the disastrous 2017 event, which left attendees stranded on an island in the Bahamas that lacked food, water, and accommodations.
“I have a second chance to do right by the people around me, and against all odds, to turn these nightmares into dreams,” McFarland said via video at Thursday’s press conference in Playa del Carmen, in Quintana Roo, Mexico.
“For the attendees, for the partners sitting on stage, Fyre Festival 2 is about being a dreamer.
“Being a traveler and being an adventure seeker around the world, converging on Playa del Carmen to live like Jack Sparrow, or live like Lara Croft for 3 days.”
The festival will host 1,800 guests and feature 40 musical performances, event associate Daniel Martin said.
However, the Fyre Festival organizers stopped short of revealing the artists despite the event slated to kick off on May 30.
Partner Mike Falb vowed to unveil the list of artists on Fyre Festival’s social media platforms next week.
“The intention of this press conference is to state the basis of the festival, the foundation of it, the security, the locations, the infrastructure, the hotels, so this is the intention of today,” Falb said.
“The artist, the first release of artists will come next week, so please be attentive to it.”
Another partner named Fernando said the organizers have already secured the permits to make the festival “successful.”
Manuel Reta, the head of artists and commercial relations for the Mexican event organizer Lostnights, said the Fyre team has found a home for the festival in Playa del Carmen.
What we know about Fyre Festival 2 as sequel to doomed event announced
Reta expressed confidence in the Fyre team’s ability to make the festival a success.
“The reality is that all of those, doubts and concerns are fixed with a very simple thing – We are in Mexico,” he said.
“We’re in the Riviera Maya, we’re in Playa del Carmen. There is no lack of, 5-star hotels, 5 -star culinary experience.
“And since founding the new partners, the new team here for Fyre Festival 2 it’s about building long-term and deep relationships with both the partners of the company, the attendees of the events, and the local supporters in the region for which Fyre Festival will be held.”
DUMPSTER FYRE
The press conference comes a day after The U.S. Sun exclusively revealed Fyre Festival goers will not get a refund if the event if canceled.
The top-tier Prometheus ticket is valued for a staggering $1.1 million.
The U.S. Sun revealed that the second iteration of the initially doomed festival has some unusual stipulations in the Terms of Service for the multi-day soiree, which has already changed its location twice in the last month.
In the astonishingly long Terms of Service, Fyre attempts to avoid accountability should just about anything go wrong this time around.
In the lengthy agreement for ticket holders, there are a slew of serious warnings for what one might expect with their pricey purchase.
One such warning reads under a section titled Refunds and Exchanges that “All Ticket sales are final. NO REFUNDS OR EXCHANGES.”
General admission starts at $1,400, with the next ticket step at $5,000 then $25,000 and finally an eye-watering $1,100,000 for the Prometheus package.
On Tuesday, Fyre founder McFarland claimed on Instagram that they had sold their second Prometheus ticket.
In 2018, McFarland pleaded guilty to two charges of wire fraud in federal court in Manhattan and confessed to using fraudulent documents to entice investors into putting over $26 million into his company.
He agreed to forfeit the $26 million, and had previously claimed to The U.S. Sun that his attempt at Fyre Fest 2 would help him pay down his restitution.
The agreement continued with a disclaimer about the simple purchase of a ticket to Fyre Festival 2 that immediately placed the ticket holder on shaky ground for attending any actual events.
Since announcing the three-day event in February, Fyre Festival has already changed locations twice
In early March, a Mexican tourism board claimed that they had no information on the upcoming event.
Fyre Festival hopefuls should be aware that in another section, titled Modifications to Service, the agreement warned “FYRE reserves the right to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Service (or any part thereof) with or without notice.
“You agree that no FYRE Party will be liable to you or to any third party for any modification, suspension or discontinuance of the Service.”
The terms continue to warn, “We may cancel any event at any time in our sole discretion.
“Further, event date, time, location and talent are subject to change, and any such change will not be considered a cancellation of the event.
“No refunds will be given for event date, time, location, or lineup changes or cancellations by artists.
“You bear all risks of inclement weather in connection with the event to which your Ticket is issued.
“Events may take place despite inclement weather conditions. In the event of cancellation due to a natural disaster, Tickets will not be refunded, and all costs associated with this cancellation, such as travel expense to the site, will not be compensated.”
FYRE Festival & Billy McFarland
The inaugural FYRE Festival remains one of the most infamous event disasters in history.
Attendees were left devastated after spending tens of thousands of dollars to attend the event, only to arrive on an island in the Bahamas lacking food, water, and accommodation- not to mention the musical acts all pulled out at the last minute.
The debacle was magnified by social media, with disgruntled influencers sharing their outrage after stepping onto Great Exuma expecting the party of a lifetime.
Instead of the promised luxury villas, festival-goers were greeted by re-purposed emergency FEMA tents.
Enticed by the allure of world-class cuisine, ticket holders found themselves served cold cheese sandwiches in foam containers.
Despite the spectacular failure, Billy exclusively told The U.S. Sun in an interview that he has his reasons for attempting the event a second time.
Billy said: “This is the most tangible way to repay the $26 million that I owe, and having real partners gives an opportunity in the next five to seven years, to actually pay back that $26 million.
“And unfortunately, no one’s offering me $26 million to work somewhere else.”
The convicted felon, who faced charges for misleading his investors, went on to say he is taking full advantage of his notoriety.
“We are literally the most talked about music festival in the world. We’ve had three times as many mentioned this Coachella, which is in second place and there’s a huge drop-off after that.
“It’s an incredible opportunity to steer that ship into the storm and embrace everything that’s happened.”
