There no time for preamble when it comes to discussing the highly corrupt and unethical music event of the century turned scam that mislead thousands of people out large sums of cash.
This luxurious, cultural mixing pot of an event is no other than the Frye Festival, otherwise known as the Frye Festival Scam.
Now as some of you may be wondering, why is the Frye Festival scam still a subject of trending discussion if it occurred in 2017?
The answer to that along with the all the need-to-knows regarding the Frye Festival are nested neatly within the confine of our unbiased review below.
What was the Frye Festival?
Early report is that many of the tents aren't assembled. Here's their tropical private island owned by Escobar! #FyreFestival pic.twitter.com/TNzBDbNAUJ
— FyreFestivalFraud (@FyreFraud) April 27, 2017
The Frye Festival was marketed as if it was to be the most legendary, hyped and audacious music festival of our time.
While some large music events such as Lollapalooza, Coachella and Tomorrowland typically ‘bring home to the bread’ in regards to creating the most invigorating, blissful and life-enriching music experiences, the Frye Festival was portrayed as the icing on the cake.
Meaning in other words, it was supposed to be the greatest music festival of all time.
So how did the Frye Festival get started?
The Frye Festival, like anything else, was created from an idea.
An idea that was cultivated and poorly brought to life by Billy McFarland, the CEO of Frye Media Inc, along with well-known rapper Ja Rule.
Originally, the Frye festival was scheduled to go live between April 28th, to April, 30th and May 5th to May 7th, 2017.
The Frye Festival was to be held on the Bahamian Island of Great Exuma.
The idea behind the Frye Festival music app was to promote the Frye music booking app.
It is said that Ja Rule had become quite acquainted with Billy McFarland through visitations conducted during McFarland’s previous venture known as Magnises.
Events for the Frye Festival ranged between $500 to $1,500 one average while VIP packages ran as high as $12,000.
Those who went to the Frye Festival were under the impression that they would be receiving first-class meals from celebrity chefs while staying in luxurious geodesic domes.
Final Advertised Celeb List
- Tyga
- Pusha T
- Desiigner
- Blink-182
- Major Lazer
- Disclosure
- Migos
- Lil Yachty
- Kaytranada
- Matoma
- Skepta
- Klingande
- Klingande
- Le Youth
- Blond:ish
- Lee Burridge
During the time of the failed inception of Frye Festival, Frye Festival advertised promotional material that implied to customers that the festival was to be held of a remote private island that originally belonged to Pablo Escobar when the reality of the matter is significantly different.
To find out more regarding the land acquisition, construction process and several red flags in regards to what was to be the creation of Frye Festival, you can visit WikiPedia.
Fast forward to the launch of the Frye Festival and it becomes a total fiasco.
Blink-182 pulls out of the festival early while many of the housing tents and accommodations prepared for festival goers were soaked in a heavy rain fell that preceded the opening of the venue.
Many of the early-bird festival goers were at an impromptu beach party where they were kept around for nearly 6 hours while the operators behind the Frye Festival tried to restore the festival and get things moving forward.
Long story short, some of the artists played later that night but early the following morning it was announced that the Frye Festival would be postponed while festival attendees were to be returned to Miami.
Frye Festival Aftermath
The aftermath of the Frye Festival is far more tragic than the poor preparations and early postponement of Frye Festival.
Many festival goers claim that they were stranded due to flights behind cancelled from a government order that barred additional planes from landing.
Those who didn’t make an early flight back were locked in the Exuma Airport terminal (with NO access to food, water or air conditioning) while allegedly one passenger had to be hospitalized.
Other emerging issues of the Frye Festival are as followed:
- Theft, or misplacement, of attendees baggage
- No cell phone or Internet service
- Poor food quality and no running water
- Insufficient sum of medical personnel
- Lack of housing assignments (not everyone had a place to sleep!)
- Soaking wet mattresses and disgusting accommodations
- Lack of refund compensation
In The Press
The failure of the Frye Festival was a riveting tale that still echoes throughout the web to this day.
Shared below are some statements regarding Frye Festival we found in the press:
BBC News – “Ticket holders were promised a weekend parting with influencers on a private island but instead got rain-soaked mattresses in disaster tents and their luggage dumped in an unlit car-park.”
VanityFair – “Billy McFarland sold elite millennials (and his investors) on an ultra-luxurious “Coachella in the Bahamas…what could be the biggest scam of the year.”
Columbia Journalism Review – “…What they got were delayed economy flights, packed yellow school buses, flooded FEMA relief tents, cheese sandwiches on plain bread, and an overall experience that was more Max Max: Fury Road than The Great Gatsby.”
The Washington Post – “Frye Festival was ‘nothing more than a get-rich-quick scam,”
You can find more troubling insight at BusinessInsider.
Celebrity Blowback
Many celebrities who had originally promoted Frye Festival naturally have received blowback for their role in the Frye Festival scam.
Ja Rule is obviously at the top of list, claiming later on that he too was, “hustled, scammed, bamboozled, hood winked, lest astray!!!”
Other celebrities who are said who have known affiliation with the Frye Festival would be Hailey Baldwin, Bella Hadid and Emily Ratajkowski.
Frye Festival Review Conclusion
The Frye Festival was perhaps the greatest music festival that NEVER really happened.
The overall insight shared by those who had the unfortunate experiences of being mislead were troubling, disturbing and experiences no one should have to endure
The living accommodations put forth at Frye Festival were ill-prepared for the heavy rainfall that occurred during the opening of the Frye Festival venue.
Claiming that meals would be catered by top chefs across the country only to receive a slice of cheese, some bread and some lettuce as your gourmet meal is absolute ludicrous.
As a result of the Frye Festival scam, McFarland became heavily under public and governing scrutiny.
Billy McFarland pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud in March of 2018.
On June 12th, McFarland was arrested yet again in a separate fraud case.
Billy McFarland was charged in that case for selling fake tickets for over $100,000 for events including Coachella and the Met Gala through a company called NYC VIP Access.
We have been locked indoors with no air NO FOOD and NO water #fyrefestival #fyrefest fyrefraud pic.twitter.com/wg5pZmSvnx
— Lamaan (@LamaanElGallal) April 28, 2017
Moving forward, on October 11th, Billy McFarland was sentenced to 6 years in prison.
Hulu just recently released a documentary known as the Frye Fraud.
Netflix has has released their own version of the events surrounding the Frye Festival and can be found as a documentary titled Frye.
It is for these reasons why the Frye Festival Scam is a trending tale buzzing around the net.
As you have gathered from some of the critical points highlighted in our review, the Frye Festival was a monumental fail in regards to what the creators and operators behind the music event were attempting to portray.
Essentially the Frye Festival was presented as the champagne standard of Coachella-like music festivals when in reality it resulted in beer standards that were not only ill-equipped but led to disastrous consequences for those in attendance.
If you have a story to share regarding the Frye Festival we ask that you please share your insight below!
Outcome: Frye Festival was a monstrous scam.
We invite you to share your experiences, insight and feedback you may have below!