It looks like the second time may not be the charm for Fyre Festival.
The location that was said to be the site of next month’s Fyre Festival 2 may not serve as the venue, leading to questions about where the event will be held.
Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland, who announced last September plans for a sequel for the festival, said last week at a press conference that the new event would take place in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.
In an April 3 post on X, however, city hall in Playa del Carmen said on X that it will not play host for the festival.
“... No such event with that name will take place in our city,” it wrote.
“There is no existence of a registry nor plans that would indicate such an event taking place in this municipality,” it added.
The comments came after McFarland spoke glowingly of the area during a recent press conference.
“Our relationships with Playa may be new, but I know I speak for the rest of the team when I say we couldn’t ask for a better group of people,” he said.
“We are very happy to have this festival in Mexico, in Playa del Carmen. We already have permits, so this is going to be very successful,” entrepreneur and Playa del Carmen’s Martina Beach Club founder Fernando Delgado said at the press conference.
This confusion over where Fyre Festival 2 — which has not announced any artists who will be performing — follows the disastrous first Fyre Festival in 2017. The location was moved four months before the start date, and while customers were initially promised a luxury experience, they were served cheese sandwiches and put up in emergency relief tents instead.
McFarland wound up serving four years in prison for fraud for that event. Still, he has remained committed to putting on another Fyre Festival, with tickets ranging in price from $1,400 to more than $1 million.
“I think Fyre 2 really isn’t about the past, and it’s not really about me. It’s about taking the vision, which is strong,” he told TODAY in an interview that aired in February.
McFarland also knows people may be taking a chance in buying a ticket.
“I think it’s always a risk,” he said. “You’re taking a risk because I made a lot of bad decisions and messed up the first festival. Until it’s experienced, there is a risk component to it.”
