Fyre Festival, a Luxury Music Weekend, Crumbles in the Bahamas

[SecularMotion]

Source: NY Times

Famous models on yachts! Exclusive island once owned by Pablo Escobar! Blink-182!

Those were just some of the selling points for Fyre Festival, a supposedly opulent music weekend that was scheduled to begin in the Bahamas on Thursday, with “first-class culinary experiences and a luxury atmosphere,” along with performances by G.O.O.D. Music, Major Lazer, Migos and more.

Promoted by Instagram influencers including Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid and Emily Ratajkowski as a never-before-seen V.I.P. event, the gathering — with weekend ticket packages starting around $1,200 and topping six-figures with extras — was supposed to compete in an increasingly elaborate landscape of boutique music festivals that have sprung up in the wake of Coachella.

But when guests arrived on the island of Great Exuma for the inaugural weekend, they found something closer to “Survivor”: grounds that were woefully lacking in the promised amenities, replaced instead by dirt fields, soggy tents and folding chairs.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/28/arts/music/fyre-festival-ja-rule-bahamas.html

[Honeycombe8]

1. Oooooo. I bet there are some ticked off patrons who paid big bucks. nt

[Warpy]

6. Tickets for the "public" ranged from $5000-$12000

so I'm sure they expected a lot more than cots in rickety tents. I do hope they arrived on their own yachts so they can leave the same way, otherwise they might be stuck for a week. Can we all say "dengue?"

The two bozos who obviously planned this thing after too much tequila are going to spend the rest of their lives being sued over this fiasco.

The headliner, Blink-182 (who I'd never heard of and who was disappointing over at YouTube) has pulled out. They will likely not be missed. This seems like an event where rich kids go to see and be seen, the big draw being its exclusive nature.

[George II]

2. Maybe they were trying to recreate Woodstock?

[BannonsLiver]

3. For assholes.

[Dopers_Greed]

4. Sucks for those who are stuck there

But I am not going to deny that I am extremely amused by this whole thing

[Yo_Mama]

8. I laughed quite a bit - "but there were models at the website!"

My grandmother would have summed this up as "More money than sense."

I am sorry they were defrauded, but maybe this will save some of those people a lot of money in the future.

[PoliticAverse]

5. "Neither of us had developed an island or a festival before". n/t

[Dopers_Greed]

7. Sounds like the organizers had no clue what they were doing

Even for a seasoned team, it would have been impossible to pull off in that location.

Being a "tech entrepreneur" doesn't prepare you to be able to run any event you want.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

9. And to think I complained about being dragged to Coachella

I didn't think anyone who wasn't near death from starvation or dehydration could have been as miserable as I was being subjected to The Chemical Brothers there.

[EarthFirst]

10. From a Production employee:

I Worked at Fyre Festival. It Was Always Going to Be a Disaster.

http://nymag.com/thecut/2017/04/fyre-festival-exumas-bahamas-disaster.html?mid=twitter-share-thecut

[PoliticAverse]

11. "And baby, they forgot to make me sign an NDA." n/t

[bench scientist]

12. that was the best line in the article. lol.

[RussBLib]

13. suckers!

sounds like it was organized by #45

[JI7]

14. yup

[JHB]

15. One of the hillarious things on Twitter was MAGAtts lamely attempting to work Hillary into this...

...when the blindingly obvious analogy is the Kremlin Don Circus and Nepotism Emporium.

[EarthFirst]

16. Fyre Festival Hit With $100 Million Suit; Organizer Says 'We Were A Little Naive'

On Sunday, Fyre Fest attendee Daniel Jung filed a lawsuit against the organizers. His attorney Ben Meiselas, of celebrity law firm Geragos & Geragos, tweeted the first few pages of the suit, adding, "Refunding ticket price is not enough!"

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court, names festival co-founders Ja Rule and Billy McFarland, along with Fyre Media, as defendants. It seeks to be a class action, with the plaintiff estimating that more than 1,000 people "purchased tickets for, and/or attended, Defendants' Fyre Festival."

Jung says he paid $2,000 for a ticket package and airfare to the event that started on Thursday and promised "a once-in-a-lifetime musical experience on the Islands of the Exumas." The suit seeks damages in excess of $100 million on behalf of himself and "similarly-situated persons."

If you read only one lawsuit today, make it this one. (It's embedded at the end of this article.) The suit offers a fine retelling of the "cultural moment" formerly known as the Fyre Festival. A few highlights:

More at link:

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/05/01/526392280/fyre-festival-hit-with-100-million-suit-organizer-says-we-were-a-little-naive

[Rustyeye77]

17. The swimming pigs were cool.

[Xolodno]

18. For the prices they were charging...

...they could have rented out the local Sandals resort and then neighboring ones if that sold out with all inclusive fees. Built a stage out on the water and voila.

Almost sounds like they were trying to do "extravagance" on the cheap in order to maximize profits. "Of course they'll like tent accommodations! They deal with it at Coachella!...were just charging more for a Caribbean Island!"