Yes, Fyre Festival II is happening eight years after the infamous failed event.
“Fyre II is real. My dream is finally becoming a reality,” entrepreneur Billy McFarland, who created the original festival, shared in an interview with Today on Monday, February 24, the same day tickets for the event officially went on sale.
The festival’s second installment is scheduled to take place in Isla Mujeres, Mexico, from May 30 to June 2. On Today, McFarland, 33, explained that the dates were bumped back one month to “give our partners time to get everything ready.”
Unlike the original Fyre Festival, McFarland will not directly handle planning details. Instead, he is working with a “major festival operator,” hotel and travel partners and other travel companies to organize the event.
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McFarland created the original Fyre Festival in 2017 with Ja Rule as a means to promote his music talent booking app, Fyre. Rather than the luxurious festival getaway that was promised on the island of Great Exuma, attendees were met with several planning problems involving security, accommodations, food availability, medical services and more. The festival was ultimately canceled, leaving attendees stranded on a remote part of the island.
McFarland and Ja Rule, 48, were each sued for $100 million by disappointed attendees in May 2017, and McFarland was arrested by federal agents for wire fraud one month later. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud and defrauding investors in March 2018. He was also charged with selling fraudulent tickets to Met Gala, Burning Man and Coachella six months later.
McFarland was sentenced to six years in prison in October 2018 but was released early in March 2022 and remained under house arrest until September 2022. Ja Rule was cleared of any wrongdoing by a judge in November 2019 after claiming he was scammed by McFarland. The failed festival’s ups and downs were documented in the 2019 documentary FYRE.
Though Fyre Festival II’s limited 2,000 tickets are on sale, no musical acts for the event have been announced. “We’re gonna have artists across electronic, hip-hop, pop and rock. However, it’s not just music,” McFarland explained on Today. “We might have a professional skateboarder do a demonstration. We might have an MMA champion teach you techniques in the morning.”
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When asked if acts have officially been booked, McFarland stated, “I think what makes Fyre so cool is we are selling the experience of Fyre. I want to be one of the first festivals that can sell out with no artists. … We are announcing the artists over the next few months, so I’m not in charge of booking the talent.”
He noted that based on his conversations with the event’s organizers, attendees can “expect” several A-list names to be involved.
McFarland noted that he might not be able to attend Fyre Festival II, as his legal penalty restricts his travel. “I don’t know. I have to be OK with, mentally, maybe watching a livestream from my computer and crying a little bit,” he stated. “I have to ask for international travel.”
Noting that the event is not for everyone, McFarland said Fyre Festival II is for people “taking the risk, seeking the adventure and wanting to be there for the moment.” He added, “I think it’s always a risk. You’re taking a risk because I made a lot of bad decisions and messed up the first festival. Until it’s experienced, there is a risk to it.”
McFarland shared more details about the festival via social media on Monday, describing the event as having “adventures led by international and local talent, taking guests on boundary-pushing excursions by day and uniting for intimate beach-side performances at night.”
In a statement included in the post, McFarland wrote, “I’m sure many people think I’m crazy for doing this again. But I feel I’d be crazy not to do it again. After years of reflection and now thoughtful planning, the new team and I have amazing plans for FYRE 2. The adventure seekers who trust the vision and take the leap will help make history. Thank you to my partners for the second chance.”
