Updated: Fyre Festival, advertised as a high-end music extravaganza, has been officially cancelled after experiencing a calamitous start to its inaugural weekend. Marketed as a weekend-long luxury experience, tickets started at $4,000, going as high as $12,000. Celebrities and social media influencers like Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid, and Hailey Baldwin have been hyping up the multi-weekend festival for months leading up to the event. But in a shocking turn of events, the festival co-organized by hip hop artist Ja Rule has quickly gone from Instagrammable paradise to disaster in the span of its first day.
Promising a "cultural moment created from a blend of music, art and food," tickets included a flight from Miami to the islands of Exuma in the Bahamas, luxurious camping, and activities including yoga and kayaking. The lineup included Blink-182, Major Lazer, and Disclosure.
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But even before a single band had played, tweets started flooding Twitter from festival-goers describing the scene as a "complete disaster."
So Fyre Fest is a complete disaster. Mass chaos. No organization. No one knows where to go. There are no villas, just a disaster tent city. pic.twitter.com/1lSWtnk7cA
— William N. Finley IV (@WNFIV) April 27, 2017
Though the festival was set to start Thursday night, many ticket holders found themselves stranded at the Miami airport due to grounded flights. Those who did manage to make it to the festival were stranded while festival organizers scrambled to provide attendees with food, water, and basic shelter. "In case you're wondering, those 'cabanas' are actually disaster relief tents. " tweeted one festival-goer.
Stuck at #fyrefestival trying to leave for the last 8 hours. barley any food or water or security or electricity pic.twitter.com/jHPMnJw5gx
— Lamaan (@LamaanGallal) April 28, 2017
@FyreFraud Here's the dinner they fed us tonight. Literally slices of bread, cheese, and salad with no dressing. #fyrefraud #fyrefestival #dumpsterfyre pic.twitter.com/NmNXakSFlq
— Tr3vor (@trev4president) April 28, 2017
To add to the chaos, Blink-182, who were billed as headliners, informed their fans via Instagram that they would not be performing at either the first or second weekend.
— blink-182 (@blink182) April 27, 2017
Amid the disarray, the Fyre Festival Team made a short statement via their Instagram announcing that it would be cancelling the remaining flights. "Due to circumstances beyond our control, and in line with a culture of safety, all inbound charter flights to the Exumas have been canceled."
Even The Bahamas (THE COUNTRY) released a statement this morning stating that they were "extremely disappointed in the way the events unfolded yesterday." Additionally, the statement includes that a Team of Ministry of Tourism representatives would be stepping in to "assist with the organization and safe return of all Fyre Festival visitors."
Bahamas official statement on Fyre Festival #FyreFestival pic.twitter.com/NQo8AmXZlQ
— The Bahamas (@VisitTheBahamas) April 28, 2017
This article was originally published at 12:50pm, April 28th.
Ja Rule took to Twitter to make a statement apologizing for the unfortunate turn of events saying, "I'm heartbroken at this moment my partners and I wanted this to be an amazing event it was NOT A SCAM as everyone is reporting it..."
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— Ja Rule (@Ruleyork) April 28, 2017
The Fyre Festival Team has made a statement on the event website saying:"Due to circumstances out of our control, the physical infrastructure was not in place on time and we are unable to fulfill on that vision safely and enjoyably for our guests."
Throughout the night and early hours of the morning, festival attendees attempted to return to Miami and were met with more complications. Many were left stranded in the airport in Exuma for hours before they were able to get on flights in the early hours of the morning Friday.
We have been locked indoors with no air NO FOOD and NO water #fyrefestival #fyrefest fyrefraud pic.twitter.com/wg5pZmSvnx
— Lamaan (@LamaanGallal) April 28, 2017
No official statement has been made as to whether the second weekend of Fyre Festival will still be happening. According to Fyre Festival's Instagram, the "once-in-a-lifetime musical experience" is being postponed.