Bahamas's Luxury Fyre Festival Descends into "Mass Chaos"

Tickets cost as much as $12,000 but the fest was immediately postponed after attendees were met with "disaster relief tents," lost luggage and cancelled headliners

BY Calum SlingerlandPublished Apr 28, 2017

It takes an immense amount of work to put on a music festival, but there's something to be said for one's lack of organizational skills when the event descends into "mass chaos" the day it starts.

That's how one attendee of the luxury Fyre Festival in the Bahamas described the scene upon arriving on the island of Great Exuma Thursday night (April 27). Festivalgoers took to social media to share photos and video of the festival site in disarray, while many more claimed to have lost luggage and travel documents — all of which has already led the event to be postponed.

UPDATE (04/28, 2:43 p.m. EST): Ja Rule took to Twitter to write, "I will make a statement soon I'm heartbroken at this moment my partners and I wanted this to be an amazing event it was NOT A SCAM as everyone is reporting." 

Fyre Festival — created by rapper Ja Rule and entrepreneur Billy McFarland — had promised "a cultural moment created from a blend of music, art, and food," while its flashy Instagram advertising featured models Bella Hadid, Hailey Baldwin and Emily Ratajkowski.

The festival's lowest-tier tickets were priced at $1,000 USD, and the event boasted VIP packages up to $250,000 USD that promised private plane and yacht rentals, as well as massages and beach tours.

As a festivalgoer told Billboard, those in attendance were instead treated to "basically disaster relief tents...With a mattress on some sort of bed frame. They're not that uncomfortable but the tents are so poorly made that they'd blow over in a second if there was any wind or rain."

Headliners Blink-182 pulled out of the festival yesterday afternoon, writing on Twitter that "we're not confident that we would have what we need to give you the quality of performances we always give fans."

Migos, Pusha T, Disclosure, Major Lazer, Tyga and Desiigner were also slated to perform. 

Today, festival organizers announced over Twitter that "due to unforeseen and extenuating circumstances, Fyre Festival has been fully postponed." A further statement on Instagram promises "a great experience" to those still on the island, but mentions that all charter flights to the island have been canceled "in line with a culture of safety."

If you can believe it, the festival was slated to run for a second weekend, but it is already working on booking return flights home for those attendees already on the island.

Find photos from the event below.
MusicNewsFestival

Latest Coverage

More Latest Coverage