Fyre Festival 2 is still on, Billy McFarland says. How he plans to lock down lodging and musical artists.
Almost eight years after the implosion of the original Fyre Festival — and three years after serving time in prison for fraud — Billy McFarland is back in the spotlight. This time, virtually.
On March 27, the disgraced festival founder addressed media and stakeholders via an Instagram livestream during the first official press conference for Fyre Festival 2. The rebooted version, which was originally reported as taking place on Mexico's Isla Mujeres, is now scheduled to happen in Playa del Carmen, about 50 miles south, from May 30 to June 2.
McFarland confirmed the location change in a March 21 post on Instagram, sharing that the festival will now take place 'in the heart of the Riviera Maya' and listing new venues and accommodations in Playa del Carmen.
The post did not address the previous location, but commenters noticed the change.
'A venue change two months before the event! Sounds VERY FYRE!" one person wrote on the Instagram post.
'Does playa know about this?' another added, seemingly referencing the responses from Isla Mujeres tourism officials, who denied any involvement with the festival.
'We have been working on building FYRE in Mexico since September,' Nick Lawson, an organizer with the festival, told Yahoo Entertainment in a statement about the event's relocation.
'We were blindsided by comments made to the media,' Lawson said, referencing their unexpected dismissal by local tourism officials at Isla Mujeres. 'We ultimately found the perfect home for FYRE Festival 2 in Playa Del Carmen. Playa has the ideal combinations of beach clubs, hotels, and experiences for our guests. We've been welcomed with open arms and couldn't have asked for a better location partner.'
The press conference, hosted by the event's new production and hospitality partners alongside local officials, aimed to reassure the public that things will be different this time.
'I'm not here to make excuses,' McFarland said early in the presentation, which was livestreamed on the festival's account. 'I know I messed up, and I know that you all know that I messed up. I have a long road ahead to attempt to make right for all these wrongs — and that is why I'm here.'
Organizers emphasized that the necessary permits from local authorities are in place. Raúl Tassinari González, Playa del Carmen's secretary of citizen security, was present at the conference to show support for the event.
'We already have permits, so this is going to be very successful and we are very happy to have the Fyre Festival,' one of the festival's partners, referred to as Fernando, confirmed, which McFarland reiterated later in the call.
While previous reports said the event would be capped at 2,000 attendees, McFarland said they're planning to host 1,800 guests and approximately 40 performing artists.
According to Manuel Reta, head of artist and commercial relations for Lostnights, the event company partnering with Fyre Festival, the musical lineup is still under wraps but will be announced next week.
'The first release of artists will come next week,' he stated on the call. 'Please follow us on our social media. You will get all the information.'
Reta also stressed that there should be no reason for guests to worry about available lodging, citing the event's location.
'We're in Playa del Carmen,' he said. 'There is no lack of five-star hotels, five-star culinary experiences to have a successful event.'
It's worth noting that not all ticket packages include accommodations — and only select tiers guarantee stays in five-star hotels. In 2017, hundreds of guests arrived expecting luxury villas but were instead met with disaster relief tents, a moment that became symbolic of the festival's collapse.
'Those concerns are resolved with the location,' Reta stressed.
Mike Falb, one of the festival's lead organizers, said he's been living in Mexico for six months to help coordinate logistics.
'I feel very lucky to be able to call Mexico and Quintana Roo my home for the last six months,' Falb said on the livestream. 'Fyre is not just an event. It's a movement. You don't attend Fyre. You become a part of it. I look forward to making history with all of you.'
Daniel Martín, another festival partner whose company, he said, has worked with more than 120 luxury oceanfront villas in the Caribbean over the last 10 years, called the event 'real' and 'emotional,' emphasizing the caliber of villas and experiences being planned.
'It's not just renting villas and yachts and experiences,' said Martín. 'We try to create something that transcends forever with our hosts and everybody that comes through us, and that's what we're going to do.'
McFarland introduced local hospitality partner Diego Rodriguez, who added that Playa del Carmen is 'the main destination' that will draw attendees to the festival.
'We want to make Playa great again,' said Rodriguez. 'What we want from the Fyre Festival is to position Playa. Playa right now is improving, Playa right now is innovating.'
During the Q&A portion, a journalist submitted a preselected question about how anyone can be sure this won't be another disaster.
McFarland responded by citing the festival's 'seven to eight years of maturation' and emphasized the team's collaboration with Lostnights, which he described as 'one of the best festival companies not only in Mexico, but around the world.'
Acknowledging the risk attendees are taking, McFarland framed participation as an act of belief.
'Fyre 2 is about swimming against the current,' he said. 'Fyre 2 is standing up for what you believe to be true and to live the life that you want to live.'
McFarland signed off by thanking his partners: 'It takes a lot of bravery to stand up to the heat of everything that Fyre brings,' he said. 'The importance of today is why we're all here and why we're doing Fyre. And for me, it's paying back those I owe. For the partners, it's bringing the vision to life and connecting a couple of thousand people from around the world.'
He then declared: 'Playa is officially on Fyre.'
The original Fyre Festival in 2017, promoted by influencers including Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid, promised luxury accommodations and a stacked musical lineup in the Bahamas. What guests received instead were disaster relief tents, cheese sandwiches, no artists and mass chaos.
Only about 500 attendees actually arrived, and many had their belongings stolen due to lack of infrastructure and security. The fiasco sparked two documentaries, multiple lawsuits and, eventually, McFarland's federal conviction for wire and bank fraud. He was sentenced to six years and ordered to pay $26 million in restitution.
As reported by Today in February, a minimum of $500,000 from festival proceeds will go toward McFarland's restitution payments. Since his release from prison, he has reportedly contributed a percentage of his salary from a marketing job toward those payments.
McFarland remains on probation and requires special court approval to leave the U.S. It's still unclear whether he'll be allowed to attend the festival himself.
Tickets for Fyre Festival 2 are currently on sale and range from $1,400 to $1.1 million apiece. Tiers include general admission access; backstage experiences; and ultra-premium packages offering private villas, chauffeurs and even yachts.
Tickets can be purchased directly through Fyre 2's website or SoldOut.com, the only verified resale platform. The site warns, 'Fyre is not responsible for any purchases made outside of SoldOut.com.'
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