- Fyre Festival 2 organizer Billy McFarland is sharing alleged documentation that indicates the music festival’s planning is underway — despite claims from the government of Playa del Carmen, Mexico, stating otherwise
- McFarland was found guilty of two counts of wire fraud in relation to the original Fyre Festival in 2018 and served time in prison until 2022
- McFarland has claimed that the new festival is set to take place in late May/early June 2025, but no musical performances have been announced
Fyre Festival 2 organizer Billy McFarland is sharing updates and alleged documentation showing that the planning process for the event is underway — despite reports that the second iteration of the controversial music festival is not going to happen.
In a statement shared on Instagram on Friday, April 4, McFarland, 33, and the official Fyre Festival account wrote that the organizers have been working with the city of Playa del Carmen, Mexico, since March to secure permits for the music festival — which McFarland previously said is planned for late May/early June 2025.
“FYRE has been working directly with the government of Playa del Carmen (PDC) and their officials since March 5, 2025, to ensure a safe and successful event,” the statement reads. “All media reports suggesting our team has not been working with the government of PDC are simply inaccurate and based on misinformation.”
“FYRE has operated as a good partner with PDC government and has followed the proper processes and procedures to lawfully host an event,” the statement adds.
Also included in the Instagram post are various photos of alleged documents — such as tourism permits, environmental permits and receipts of payments made to the Playa del Carmen government — all filed or submitted over the past month.
Despite McFarland’s claims, the city of Playa del Carmen denied that the music festival is happening there, writing in a press release translated by Rolling Stone that the event “does not exist.”
“Neither this event nor any event with its name will occur in our city,” the government shared in a statement on April 3. “After looking over the information around the situation, we can confirm that there have been no registrations, planning or conditions to indicate that this will happen in our municipality.”
According to Today, McFarland said at a press conference last week that the new event would take place in Playa del Carmen — although the organizer previously claimed that the festival would be taking place in Isla Mujeres, located about an hour north of Playa del Carmen. The government of Isla Mujeres also denied that the event was taking place there.
In the Instagram post, McFarland also shared partially-redacted screenshots of emails claiming to show invitations asking musical artists to perform at the festival, although commenters were quick to point out that no performances have been announced at this point.
“Imagine getting permits for a festival weeks before it happens,” one commenter on Instagram wrote. “As an events professional, watching this unfold is hilarious and is really the only news I’m enjoying at the moment.”
“What happened to ‘lineup next week’? Next week is over,” another added.
According to its website, Fyre Festival 2 is set to take place May 30 to June 2, with general tickets starting at $1,400. One ticket package for eight people is also being sold for more than $1 million.
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The original iteration of Fyre Festival took place in April 2017. Attendees paid upwards of $1,500 for tickets for a festival in the Bahamas with performances from Blink 182 and Migos promised, along with big-name models and influencers. The event had compared itself to Coachella.
Upon arrival, guests learned that the promised luxury accommodations were no more than makeshift tents and folding chairs. The event was disorganized, upset attendees and even inspired two documentaries about the chaos: Netflix’s FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened and Hulu’s Fyre Fraud.
McFarland was later found guilty of two counts of wire fraud in relation to the failed festival and served time in prison from 2018 until 2022.
In September 2024, McFarland revealed some of the first details about his controversial follow-up festival, eight years after the original event.
He told Today‘s Savannah Sellers that a production company had been secured and the festival would be taking place on an island.
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“We have a private island off the coast of Mexico in the Caribbean, and we have an incredible production company who’s handling everything from soup to nuts,” McFarland said at the time.
He added that the exact island had yet to be revealed, but they were aiming to use a location that already had lodging and places to eat. “We are developing and building out the private island for the actual festival festivities” with the help of the unnamed production company, McFarland said.
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