Music Notes

Fyre Festival leaves attendees stranded, dubbed "Hunger Games for rich people"

by Kate Wilson on April 28th, 2017 at 4:06 PM
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      Be thankful that you didn’t buy a ticket to Fyre Festival this weekend.

      Billed as an ultra-luxury event on a private island in the Bahamas, featuring the “best in food, art, music, and adventure”, Fyre promised to be the height of extravagance. Promo videos featured models like Bella Hadid and Emily Ratajkowski frolicking in the beautiful Caribbean sunshine, the lineup offered a star-studded collection of artists including Major Lazer, Migos, and Blink-182, and the festival had a number of special activations billed, including treasure hunts to find more than $1 million of jewelry along the island’s dreamy beaches.

      Sounds idyllic? Think again.

      The event, co-founded by rapper Ja Rule and his tech entrepreneur partner Billy McFarland, has been compared to everything from Lord of the Flies to the Hunger Games. Hundreds of attendees have been stranded at the desolate festival site and at airport terminals. Those who made it to the island—according to social media accounts—are being accommodated in soggy tents that bear a striking resemblance to Shelter System constructions used in emergencies and natural disasters—which are, understandably, a far cry from the “modern, eco-friendly, geodesic domes” promised. Instead of first-class meals, the menu included two slices of bread with some Kraft singles and a small, arbitrary salad, and the crowd management has been entirely negligent.

      Needless to say, nobody has found $1 million of jewelry in the sand yet.

      The event was highly publicized after organizers hired around 400 Instagram influencers to spotlight the festival. High-profile celebrities like Kendall Jenner were on the payroll, offering discounts on the tickets—which apparently ranged in price from hundreds to $12,000 USD—if customers used a promo code with her name.

      Fyre attracted swaths of beautiful, rich, and social media-literate millennials to the island. Upon discovering that the festival wasn’t exactly what they were anticipating IRL, however, they unleashed their wrath across every platform.

      Ja Rule has since issued an apology in response, which is unlikely to pacify anybody.

      There’s a moral to this story. Sure, it’s easy to hate on a group of Instagram-lovers duped by glossy ads and celebrity endorsements. And sure, it’s always entertaining to see those enthralled by the fiction of social media experiencing the world with #NoFilter. But if Fyre Festival has taught us anything, it’s that it’s important to remain vigilant online, check sources, ask questions, and that if something seems too good to be true—it probably is.

      Oh—and that everything Kendall Jenner touches turns to shit.

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      Kate Wilson

      @KateWilsonSays

      Kate Wilson is the Technology Editor at the Georgia Straight. A U.K. expat, she has worked at international, national, and regional news outlets, with publication credits including The Independent, BetaKit, B.C. Business, and VR Scout. In addition to tech, Kate also covers...

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