It would almost be better if Billy McFarland had a bridge to sell us—at least then we’d have a potential route off the island. Instead, the Fyre Festival founder is plowing through with his plans for the second iteration of the festival, appearing on Today this morning to try to make buying a ticket to this event not seem like a terrible idea.
“FYRE 2 really isn’t about the past, and it’s not really about me. It’s about taking the vision, which is strong,” McFarland said this morning. You do almost have to hand it to him for running what sounds like the exact same game a second time. There are no artists yet booked, but McFarland promises “artists across electronic, hip hop, pop and rock” and teases a potential skateboarding demonstration. He also “might have an MMA champion teach you techniques in the morning,” and he sure might! When pressed by Today’s Savannah Sellers about the whole “might” element, McFarland instead presents it as a point of pride, hoping to become the first festival to sell out without artists. “We are selling the experience of Fyre,” he says.
Obviously, this all sounds incredibly vague for an event that is scheduled to take place in about three months. (When it was first announced in 2023, they were shooting for the end of 2024. Good thing they bought themselves some more time!) Nevertheless, McFarland claims to have already sold 100 tickets at $500 each to the next iteration of Fyre, and 2000 tickets went on sale today. There are also packages ranging from $1400 to that $1.1 million package, which supposedly will see the concertgoer “on a boat, have the luxury yachts that we partner with who will be docked and parked outside the island.”
“It’s about the adventure. So you’ll be scuba diving with me,” McFarland claims. “You’ll be bouncing around to other islands and other countries on small planes.” This is a three-day festival on Isla Mujeres, an island near Cancún. But at least if the artists don’t pull through, you can go underwater or in a small plane with a guy who spent a little less than four years in prison for fraud charges. If he’s allowed to leave the country, that is. It could be just like 2017 again, except a little different.
