Imagine paying $12,000 to party with supermodels on a tropical island, only to end up fighting over soggy sandwiches in FEMA tents.
Fyre Festival’s epic 2017 collapse wasn’t just a schadenfreude-filled social media meltdown – it was a $26 million lesson in the dark side of influencer culture and unchecked hubris.
What started as an ambitious vision by a 25-year-old entrepreneur turned into “Lord of the Flies” meets “The Wolf of Wall Street”.
It’s a cautionary tale about how Instagram-perfect marketing and FOMO can transform rational people into willing victims of the ultimate social media con.
I currently have “Fyre” and “Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99” as neck and neck for the best documentary on f*cked-up festivals I’ve seen — serious, I’m gonna publish a list of f*cked-up festival docs.
Trailer for “Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened”
Watch “Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened”
You can watch “Fyre” on Netflix at https://www.netflix.com/title/81035279
It’s a Netflix Original film so it should be the only place to watch it.
If you don’t have Netflix, and have Hulu, there’s another Fyre documentary called “Fyre Fraud” on Hulu. I enjoyed Netflix’s more but “Fyre Fraud is darn good too.
Ratings:
- My Rating: 90/100
- IMDB Rating: 7.2/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Ratings: 86/100 (Users); 93/100 (Critics)
Release Date: January 18, 2019
My Review of “Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened”
“Fyre” is directed by Chris Smith and he nails docs on what seems like either fascinating/edgey people ( “American Movie” (which I rank 96/100!; “Mr. McMahon” (I rank it 91/100) for Netflix; “Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives” (90/100), “Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond”, and 100 Foot Wave (this is the only one I haven’t watched).
The Dream That Was Fyre
Conceived by Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule, the Fyre festival was pitched as an exclusive, ultra-luxurious music festival on a private Bahamian island.
With lavish accommodations, gourmet cuisine, A-list musical acts, and influencers like Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid promoting it, it was designed to be the event of the decade.
Would you have bought in?
Here’s the original promo video for the Fyre Festival — would you have bought in?
Well, 5,000 people did.
And they paid prices ranging from $1,000 to $12,000+ per ticket (some luxury packages reportedly cost up to $250,000).
Note: Only 500 to 600 people actually arrived in the Bahamas before the festival imploded
The Fyre Festival brought in $26 million (that counts ticketholders and investors).
But, as the doc’s title reveals, it became the “greatest party that never happened.”
It ended in chaos, lawsuits, and memes.
You Can’t Make This Sh*t Up
- Eviction from Pablo Escobar’s Island: The festival’s original location, Norman’s Cay, was revoked after Fyre’s marketing team used Pablo Escobar’s name even though his team asked him not to use it.
- Private Jets That Weren’t: Promised luxurious private flights were actually basic planes with Fyre Festival logos slapped on them.
- Attendees Fighting for Tents: When festivalgoers landed, they had to claim disaster relief tents—intended for emergency use—amid frenzied competition for shelter from the blazing sun.
- VIP Luggage Dump: Instead of personalized luggage delivery, staff dumped everyone’s bags in a pile at night, forcing attendees to scavenge in the dark for their belongings.
- Cheese Sandwich Mayhem: The gourmet dining promised in the promotional material boiled down bread, cheese, and lettuce.
- The Infamous Water Ransom: In a desperate bid to salvage the situation, Billy McFarland allegedly asked a senior team member to perform a sexual favor to ensure a shipment of bottled water was released from customs.
- Billy McFarland’s Scammed Some More After Fyre Fiasco?” After the festival imploded, McFarland started another scam, selling fraudulent tickets to events like the Met Gala, The Grammy’s. and Burning Man In all, Mr. McFarland, 26, defrauded about 15 customers out of about $100,000 source: “New York Times “Fyre Festival Organizer Sold Fake Tickets While Out on Bail, U.S. Says”
What Happened?
Scheduled for two weekends starting April 28, 2017, the festival was doomed from the start.
McFarland and his team grossly overpromised and underdelivered.
They marketed the event as taking place on Norman’s Cay, once owned by Pablo Escobar, but were kicked off for breaking contractual agreements.
Instead, they hastily relocated to Great Exuma Island with no infrastructure in place to host thousands of attendees.
As the date approached, red flags grew.
Contractors warned of inadequate facilities, musicians pulled out, and VIP attendees received cryptic updates.
By the time attendees arrived, they were greeted by disaster relief tents instead of villas, no proper food, and nonexistent security.
Did Anyone Die at Fyre Festival?
No deaths occurred, but the conditions were ripe for tragedy. Reports of dehydration, panic, and disorder dominated the narrative.
Inadequate planning put lives at risk, even though the worst-case scenarios didn’t materialize.
Why Did Fyre Festival Fail?
Poor planning, over-the-top marketing, and a refusal to acknowledge logistical limits were the perfect storm.
McFarland’s unchecked ambition and reliance on investor cash led to a series of bad decisions.
They ignored expert warnings, overbooked tickets, and failed to secure enough basic resources like water and bathrooms.
The Man Behind the Mess: Billy McFarland
The doc goes deep into McFarland’s psychology. Before Fyre, he had launched the company Magnises, which also collapsed under shady practices.
After Fyre, McFarland faced multiple lawsuits and was sentenced to six years in prison for fraud.
Little-Known Nuggets from the Doc
- Social Media as a Weapon: Fyre’s Instagram marketing campaign, with its now-infamous orange tile, became a case study in the power of social media. The influencers were paid handsomely (Jenner reportedly received $250,000 for one post), but many never disclosed their sponsorships, sparking regulatory backlash.
- Behind-the-Scenes Panic: The festival staff knew disaster was inevitable weeks before the event. One contractor described it as “watching a car crash in slow motion.”
- The Bahamian Workers’ Plight: The locals, who were never compensated for their labor, bore the brunt of the chaos. Maryann Rolle, a restaurant owner, used her savings to feed stranded attendees and staff, becoming an unsung hero of the debacle.
- Netflix’s Fyre Doc versus Hulu’s: Both the Netflix and Hulu docs dive into Fyre’s failure, but they offer different perspectives. Netflix focuses on the logistical failures, while Hulu interviews McFarland himself, shedding light on his delusions and arrogance.
- The Economic Fallout: The Bahamas tourism board condemned the festival, fearing it would tarnish the islands’ reputation. Estimates of financial damage to locals were in the millions.
Wrap Up
The Fyre Festival story is so outrageous that it’s taken on legendary lore.
For instance, as I write this (7 years after festival), there are still 50 people per month who Google-search the term “Was Fyre Festival Real”. It certainly was real (but just barely).
While it wasn’t a scam initially, it devolved into one when McFarland and his team knowingly sold tickets to an event they couldn’t deliver.
Thanks for reading!
Rob Kelly, Chief Maniac, Daily Doc