Apparently two documentaries about the most epic fail in modern music festival history was not enough to deter Billy McFarland from trying again. After being released early in 2022 from a six-year prison sentence that he received after pleading guilty to wire fraud, the famed scammer has announced Fyre Festival II, set to take place April 25-28, 2025 on a private island off the coast in Mexico. Yes, he is really doing this, and those dumb enough to trust him can apply for tickets now, starting at $1,400 for the “Fyre Starter” package and available at as high as $1,100,000 (!!!) for the “Prometheus” package. This guy is really something.
McFarland told NBC News that he has hired a festival production company to “handle the stages and the bathrooms and all the stuff that I clearly don’t know how to do” but declined to reveal the name of the production company or the island that it’s taking place on. He also told NBC News that he has not yet booked artists.
“We have the chance to embrace this storm and really steer our ship into all the chaos that has happened,” McFarland says, “and if it’s done well, I think Fyre has a chance to be this annual festival that really takes over the festival industry.” And I think I might wake up to a new Ferrari waiting for me outside my apartment but I guess we’ll just have to see.”
Former Fyre investor Andy King, who lost $1 million during the fallout of the original festival and made memorable appearances in the Netflix documentary, told the BBC that McFarland was “known for the biggest failure in pop culture and wants to flip the script. But I’m not sure he’s going about it the right way.” He adds that he worries McFarland hasn’t “learned a lot in prison… he’s shooting from the hip again.”
“I’m just seeing a lot of red flags, and a lot of red lights,” King says. “And I feel bad. It saddens me.”
In any case, maybe we’ll get a third documentary!