• Security incident: ISF was recently accessed by intruders. Please change your password, and change it anywhere else you used it. Read more

First World Festival problems

commandlinegamer

Philosopher
commandlinegamer
Joined
Oct 3, 2009
Messages
9,761
Location
Mazes of Menace
Fyre Festival in the Bahamas was touted as being a luxury event with great music and beautiful people situated in an exotic cay.

Tickets averaged $12,000.

The reality didn't quite live up to expectations:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/artic...with-ticket-holders-still-stranded-in-bahamas

Fyre Festival, co-organised by Ja Rule, promised a "cultural moment created from a blend of music, art and food".

Tickets included a flight from Miami, a stay in a "geodesic dome" and activities including yoga and kayaking.

Festival-goers have described the event as a "complete disaster".
Click to expand...

Someone apparently involved with the planning of the festival village, though not brought into until quite late on, comments:

http://nymag.com/thecut/2017/04/fyre-festival-exumas-bahamas-disaster.html

we were led to believe things had been in motion for a while. But nothing had been done. Festival vendors weren’t in place, no stage had been rented, transportation had not been arranged. Frankly, we were standing on an empty gravel pit and no one had any idea how we were going to build a festival village from scratch.
Click to expand...

I particularly enjoyed this quote when concerns were raised by planners:

A guy from the marketing team said, “Let’s just do it and be legends, man.”
Click to expand...

If you want to know how sympathetic people have been to the plight of festival-goers, it's probably pertinent to mention that the cheese "sandwich" supplied to guests has its own Twitter account.

I haven't been to a festival in years, but it strikes me that anything short of preparations similar to those for D-Day are going to result in catastrophe, having been to Glastonbury, which is perhaps the gold standard (at least in the UK) for having a well run event.

It's possible the organisers were simply in over their head. Maybe they were just paying homage to Woodstock, but at least there the people got to hear the bands play.
 
Last edited:
Any event for which you're paying $12,000 isn't a "festival" as far as I'm concerned. It's all hilarious to me.
 
Babbylonian said:
Any event for which you're paying $12,000 isn't a "festival" as far as I'm concerned. It's all hilarious to me.
Click to expand...

How is it not a festival?

a : a time of celebration marked by special observances
b : feast 2
2
: an often periodic celebration or program of events or entertainment having a specified focus a daffodil festival a Greek festival
3
: gaiety, conviviality
 
It's a bad sign when the organizers manage to misspell the name of their own festival, and it's only a four letter word.
 
The organizer says that the photo of the cheese sandwich isn't from the festival.

Some articles talk about feral dogs roaming throughout and thugs looting alcohol.
 
BobTheCoward said:
How is it not a festival?

a : a time of celebration marked by special observances
b : feast 2
2
: an often periodic celebration or program of events or entertainment having a specified focus a daffodil festival a Greek festival
3
: gaiety, conviviality
Click to expand...
That would be a great point if dictionary definitions always conveyed the entirety of what words actually mean to people in day-to-day use. Perhaps it would be helpful if you could list a few more music festivals that require spending thousands of US dollars - beyond actual travel costs - to attend?
 
William Parcher said:
The organizer says that the photo of the cheese sandwich isn't from the festival.

Some articles talk about feral dogs roaming throughout and thugs looting alcohol.
Click to expand...

I put "sandwich" in quotes, because to me that isn't one, unless they were aiming at some hipster deconstruction.

It's not just the ingredients, some assembly is required, to wit: layering.

Bread, butter*, salad, cheese, butter, bread. It's not rocket science.

* - If there were a special circle of Hell for those who put mayonnaise on a sandwich, I wouldn't complain.
 
Babbylonian said:
That would be a great point if dictionary definitions always conveyed the entirety of what words actually mean to people in day-to-day use. Perhaps it would be helpful if you could list a few more music festivals that require spending thousands of US dollars - beyond actual travel costs - to attend?
Click to expand...

None of that seems relevant for what makes something a festival.
 
shemp said:
The only way this could have turned out worse is if Donald Trump had organized it.

And who the hell pays that kind of money to see Blink 182?
Click to expand...

The "didn't know it was hard" is very trumpish. I have been thinking Trump is more everyman than we give him credit for.
 
commandlinegamer said:
I haven't been to a festival in years, but it strikes me that anything short of preparations similar to those for D-Day are going to result in catastrophe...
Click to expand...

As someone who has worked on a few festivals & many similar events, you are correct. Also, much like D-Day, disaster can always be a tiny hiccup/miscalculation away.
 
In fairness, it was "up to "$12,000", not "averaging $12,000".There were just lots of poor schmuck music enthusiasts who scraped together money for their one big trip per year who got royally **********.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

ISF - Join now!

Every member here is approved by hand. No bots, no spam, just people who care about evidence and honest debate.

Membership is free!

Create your free account

Back
Top Bottom