Fyre Festival: Scam or Legit?

Hold out on the Fyre Festival. With so many questions, falsehoods, and uncertainties it's not worth the thousands it's trying to get out of you.

There’s an old saying that if it’s too good to be true then it probably is.




It’s said so often that it’s become a cliché, something that you roll your eyes at. But it’s become a cliché for a reason- it’s often true.

The world is buzzing with what is being called the next evolution of music festivals. Fyre Festival has been talked about for months now. The event sounds amazing, a true VIP experience. Top artists such as Blink 182, Migos, and Major Lazer are promoted as headliners as well as dozens of others.

Hosted on a private island that was once owned by Pablo Escobar just off of Exuma, the Bahamas this event takes place in the lap of the tropics. Guests will stay in luxury accommodations, get flown there in a private jet, and take part in activities like treasure hunts, yacht brunch parties, and private boat tours.

The event, hosted by Ja Rule, isn’t only boasting music icons. Models such as Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid have been instagraming about the festival. Hadid was even a part of the promotional video that started much of the buzz about it.




This event has already been covered by dozens of news sites. TMZ, Bravo, Bustle, and even Vogue, to name a few have been talking about it. It’s easy to see why. A luxury music festival on a private island with yachts, private planes, and celebrities? Sounds amazing.

Of course, this sort of VIP treatment comes with a matching price. Guests can attend either the weekend of April 28-30th or May 5th-7th. The cheapest price package is $12,499 per person. Yeah, you heard that right. In addition to that, all those fun activities are an additional cost. But if you get everything they’re promoting its worth it right?

But what if it’s not true?

There are a number of things about this event that just doesn’t add up.

1. THE PROMOTION

This event started off being promoted by a group of models- including Alessandra Ambrosio, Bella Hadid, Hailey Baldwin, Emily Ratajkowski, Elsa Hosk, and Paulina Vega- jetting off to the Bahamas posting bikini clad pictures with #fyrefestival. They then appeared in the promo video. They also posted orange tiles with exciting captions featuring the hashtag.

But those beautiful shots of that island don’t feature the actual festival location. In fact, those images are all of the surrounding islands and locations. Also, with the new marketing and advertising guidelines set by the government celebrities are supposed to mark content on their social media that is promotional. None of these celebrities did.



Then there’s the intriguing mystery of visiting a place once owned by Pablo Escobar and visited by Blackbeard. It’s true that pirates did roam the Bahamas. There’s even a location in Great Exuma named after Captain Kidd. But Pablo Escobar never owned an island in the Bahamas.

CANT wait for #FyreFestival Coming soon🎗🎤 fyrefestival.com 🏁🏁🏁

A post shared by Bella Hadid (@bellahadid) on

2. THE TIMING

There are two weekends for the Fyre Festival, April 28-30th or May 5th-7th. What many people probably don’t know is that every year there are boat regatta’s hosted in the Bahamas. These are some of the busiest times for these islands. Exuma is hosting one of these events during part of the first festival weekend, April 25th-29th. It’s possible there are two large events going on at the same time on the island but Exuma isn’t a large place and accommodations are limited enough with one event. It seems unlikely that two large events can go on in such a small place at the same time.

3. LOCATION

A music festival hosted on a private island sounds amazing. The problem is that this island might not even exist. The website says that this festival will be hosted on Fyre Cay (cay is a term used for an island). But people who live on Exuma have never heard of this place. Many celebrities do own private cays in this region but these islands, even the biggest of them, are small. They fit a large home but they don’t have room for thousands of people like the event is advertising.

The website also features a map highlighting where the festival is being held. But this area doesn’t exist. Or rather, it doesn’t exist how it is shown. This event is being held in 17 days but if you were to visit right now and walk along this area you would find nothing but untouched land. There’s also the fact that event is supposed to be held on a private island but what the map shows are a spot on Great Exuma, which is far from private.

Fyre Cay location according to festival website
Real life location on Great Exuma (non-private island)

4.MUSICAL GUESTS

If you looked at the lineup of Fyre Festival and thought it was a strange mix of artists that was done on purpose. This event wanted to get a mix of musical genres. DJs, Hip-Hop, Rock and more this festival has artists from all the big genres. Or does it?

A simple Google search makes for some puzzling questions. The event says G.O.O.D Music is a headliner, but that’s a music label, not an artist. Then there’s another artist, THUGF*CKER, that doesn’t have any social media- only a Napster account with a few remixes. DJ Lee Burridge’s name is misspelled on the website.

Then there’s the silence from these artists. Check out any of their websites, Instagrams, or Twitters. They’re full of posts talking about their upcoming appearances, concerts, and festivals. But none of them mention Fyre Festival. You would think they would be pumped to talk about being featured at such a historical music event. Major Lazer, one of the headliners, is even slated to perform in Texas on May 5th-7th, the same time as the second Fyre Festival weekend.

Major Lazer is set to appear in another country on the same dates as the festival.

5. OTHER

Exuma is a chain of islands, most small, in the Bahamas. There aren’t enough accommodation to host such an event, especially not at the same time as their annual regatta. Their airport might be able to land the private jet the event advertises but multiple times a day? I think not.


Try contacting the people from this event. An email will get bounced back saying they’ll reply within 4 days, but don’t hold your breath. There’s not even a phone number, not a single one. If you’re dropping thousands, THOUSANDS, on a music festival ticket you should at least be able to call. Not that it would make much difference since these tickets are completely non-refundable.

Email received when trying to contact the event

LEGIT OR SCAM?

 

If this event is real and happens then no doubt the high priced tickets will be worth it. But I highly doubt that. There are so many questionable things about this event. Have fun on that million-dollar treasure hunt- that’s what it’s going to be like trying to get your money back from this scam.



There’s another saying that should go along with “if it’s too good to be true it probably is”. And that’s “don’t believe everything you read on the Internet”. Vogue might know fashion, Bravo might know TV, but clearly, neither of them know a scam when they see one. Other websites have reported that while the festival might have once been legit it has now reached financial trouble.

There’s no way of knowing 100% if Fyre Festival is a scam. There’s also no way to know if it’s 100% legit, and why would you drop thousands without a solid guarantee?




Have you bought tickets for Fyre Festival? Share your experience in the comments below or let us know what you think!

9 comments

  1. CLB

    Yes, somebody really needs to expose the lies in their marketing. Most importantly: THERE IS NO FYRE CAY, AND THIS EVENT MOST CERTAINLY IS NOT TAKING PLACE ON A “PRIVATE ISLAND”.

  2. MrGeels

    They should have read this

  3. Tendies90210

    AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
    breathes in
    AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

  4. Dan

    Well, you called it!

  5. Lucky

    Well, you called it.

  6. DAVE

    NAILED IT HAHAHAHA.

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

  7. Aussie_guy

    Hahaha, such a monumental f**k-up of LEGENDARY proportions!

    So awesome.

    Great detective work. Great read.

    A great deal of LMFAOhas been had by many people!

  8. Travis McGee

    I only learned of this story yesterday, but find the whole thing fascinating (in a flaming-train-wreck-is-fascinating sort of way). I hope that the Bahamian government undertakes a careful review of the permitting process for future events like this. I also hope that the event organizers clean up the environmental mess they apparently made.

  9. Kiran

    That was just amazing to read. You did your homework wow and CALLED IT

Comments are closed.