Solitary confinement and $7,999 tickets: Inside the chaotic plans for Fyre Festival II

It’s back, boys. The event which almost saw the end of half of the influencer population by leaving them under-fed, under-watered and without true VIP (scream) in the Bahamas – Fyre Festival – is making a return from the 2017 apocalypse and has already sold out of $499 pre-sale tickets. What is going on? 

Well, essentially, Fyre Festival’s creator Billy McFarland, who briefly went to actual prison for the fraudulent music event, is back and more brazen than ever promising Fyre Festival II won’t consist of emergency tents, sodden mattresses or sad-looking cheese sandwiches but the “island adventure of a lifetime”.

Does the world believe him? Do they hell. But here’s what we know so far:

Billy thought up the plans for Fyre Festival II while he was in court-mandated solitary confinement

Swanning onto Instagram in a fittingly obnoxious spa dressing gown, Billy (who was released from jail last year) told his 22.6k Instagram followers he’d rustled up the plan for Fyre Festival II while he was in solitary confinement. He claimed he’d originally thought about hosting the event in South America or the Middle East, but ultimately decided to return to the scene of the original crime and head back to the Carribbean.

“We are targeting Fyre Festival 2 for the end of next year,” he detailed. “It has been the absolute wildest journey to get here and it really all started during the seven-month stint in solitary confinement.

“I wrote out this 50-page plan of how it would take this overall interest and demand in Fyre, and how it would take my ability to bring people from around the world together to make the impossible happen, how I would find the best partners in the world to allow me to be me while executing Fyre’s vision to the highest level.

“In the meantime, we’ll be doing pop-ups and events across the world,” he added. “Guys, this is your chance to get in. This is everything I’ve been working towards. Let’s f***ing go.”

Pre-sale tickets have already sold out and full-price entry could reach up to $7,999

When Billy dropped the first 100 pre-sale tickets for Fyre Festival II they sold out on the first day, according to the event’s website— despite there being no line-up, location, or confirmed date. More tickets are yet to be released, but according to the price list, they’ll cost between $799 (roughly £626) and $7,999 (about £6,267).

“The first FYRE Festival II drop has sold out,” Billy wrote on Instagram after the pre-sale ended. “Since 2016 FYRE has been the most talked about festival in the world. We now saw this convert to one of the highest priced GA pre-sales in the industry. FYRE is about people from around the world coming together to pull off the impossible,” he claimed.

Billy, who was described by the judge who sentenced him in 2018 as a “serial fraudster”, has also claimed he’s working with “the best logistical and infrastructure partners,” for Fyre Festival II and that “all ticket sale revenue will be held in escrow until the final date is announced.”

Billy has also announced plans to make a Fyre Festival Broadway musical

Around the one year anniversary of Billy getting out of jail, he came onto Instagram to announce there was “finally going to be a Broadway musical based on me and my life”.

“I was also sanctioned for my first ever kick-boxing fight,” he added. “I’ll be fighting in November and all the proceeds are going back to those who I owe both for the Bahamas and here in the US,” he claimed.

The comment section? Mostly people saying they couldn’t wait for the second Netflix documentary about what a disaster all this will be, with the odd smattering of people publicly demanding their money back: “You’re a tool!” observed one woman called Tara Pollari. “As a vendor of Fyre fest… you still owe me $80k!!”

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• Fyre Festival: Who is the founder Billy McFarland who scammed the world? 

• The Instagram models and influencers that promoted the Fyre Festival disaster

• QUIZ: Would you survive at Fyre Festival?

Featured image credit via Fyre Festival and Instagram