Fyre Fest 2 Seeks New Venue Weeks Before Event, Organizers Insist Festival ‘Is Still On’

The first Fyre Festival resulted in organizer Billy McFarland being sentenced to six years in prison for wire fraud related to the event.

Billy McFarland visits ‘Jesse Watters Primetime’ at Fox News Studios in New York City on Aug. 25, 2023. Theo Wargo/Getty Images

Organizers of Fyre Festival 2 have revealed that they are once again seeking a new venue, just six weeks before the event was slated to kick off in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico.

“FYRE Festival 2 is still on,” Nick Lawson, a representative for the festival, told The Epoch Times via email on Thursday.

“We are vetting new locations and will announce our host destination soon. Our priorities remain unchanged: delivering an unforgettable, safe, and transparent experience.”

According to its official website, the music fest was to take place on “festival grounds throughout Playa Del Carmen” from May 30 to June 2.

Tickets to the multi-day event range between $1,400 for general admission to more than $1 million for an exclusive experience.

Earlier this year, organizers said the event would take place on Isla Mujeres, a Mexican island off the coast of Cancun. However, on Feb. 26, the island’s city council issued a statement on Facebook denying any prior knowledge of the festival.

“The General Directorate of Tourism of Isla Mujeres informs that no person or company has requested permits from this office or any other Municipal Government department for said event,” the statement reads.

Lawson denied the city’s claims in his statement to The Epoch Times, claiming organizers were invited to host the event on the island.

“Over the past 18 months we’ve worked closely with experienced third-party festival operators to ensure FYRE Festival 2 is built to the highest standard. In September 2024, we were offered to bring the festival to Mexico. At the request of local authorities, we agreed to host FYRE Festival 2 within the municipality of Isla Mujeres,” Lawson wrote.

“In December 2024, we received official government documentation stating full support, after which we secured private venues with active operating permits, hotels, and we began building and selling tickets—only to be blindsided by a public statement claiming Isla Mujeres had no knowledge of FYRE Festival 2, despite months of collaboration and signed documentation.”

After announcing the festival would be moved to Playa Del Carmen, local officials there also publicly denied any involvement in the event.

“In response to rumors about a supposed event called ‘Fyre 2,’ we inform you that no event of that name will be held in Playa del Carmen,” reads a translation of the statement, which was posted to Instagram on April 2. “After a thorough review, there is no record or planning of any such event in the municipality.”

However, Lawson claimed government officials introduced organizers to venues, hotels, and hospitality partners and issued the necessary permits for the festival.

“The Playa del Carmen government held a joint press conference alongside our venue, production, and hospitality partners. The Playa del Carmen government made public announcements on their official government Instagram and X accounts, expressing their excitement for FYRE Festival 2 to take place in Playa del Carmen,” Lawson wrote.

“Then, days later, and after international media coverage, the same government publicly denied any awareness of FYRE Festival 2. You can’t make this stuff up.”

Fyre Festival Canceled

Fyre Festival 2 is the sequel to 2017’s infamous Fyre Festival, which was due to take place on the Bahamian island of Great Exuma over the course of two weekends in the spring of that year.

However, the luxury event faced multiple setbacks on its opening day, with some festival-goers taking to social media to complain about poorly furnished tents and inadequate meals, NBC News reported.

Several headlining musical guests, including the rock band Blink-182, also pulled out of the event. The Mark Hoppus-led group took to Twitter, now known as X, the day before the festival was set to begin to share that the band would be unable to perform.

“We’re not confident that we would have what we need to give you the quality of performances we always give our fans,” the group wrote in part.

The failed festival spawned the 2019 Netflix documentary “Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened.” The streaming platform’s synopsis reads: “The Fyre Festival was billed as a luxury music experience on a posh private island, but it failed spectacularly in the hands of a cocky entrepreneur.”

According to an October 2018 press release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, the event’s organizer, William “Billy” McFarland, was sentenced to six years in prison “for engaging in multiple fraudulent schemes and making false statements to a federal law enforcement agent.”

Earlier that year, McFarland, now 33, pleaded guilty to multiple charges related to the original Fyre Festival, including one count of wire fraud connected to a scheme to defraud the event’s investors.

“Billy McFarland has shown a disturbing pattern of deception, which resulted in investors and customers losing over $26 million in two separate fraud schemes,” former Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said at the time.

“As he had previously admitted, Billy McFarland did not deliver on his promises to his investors and customers. Today, McFarland found out the hard way that empty promises don’t lead to jet-setting, champagne, and extravagant parties—they lead to federal prison.”

McFarland—the organizer behind the second Fyre Festival—was released from prison in March 2022 after serving four years of his sentence.

“I am so grateful to be bringing together 1,800 people, who not only have the courage to take a chance on me but have the courage to prove the impossible possible and the courage to be a part of history,” McFarland said in an Instagram video on March 30.

“Fyre is all about the people you‘ll meet, the memories you’ll make, and the stories that you will be able to tell for the rest of your life. Guys, Fyre 2 can only happen once. Once it’s sold out, that’s it, there’s no waitlist, and just like the battle I’m fighting every day, there are no more chances.”