At some point the life we actually lead has become less important that the life we want others to think we lead.
Social media allows us to cherry pick the images and moments that amplify the sweet spots and eliminate the dark ones and the kings and queens of social (influencers) do this best of all. They confect a fairytale life and monetise it by selling their influence to convince us mere mortals to buy products and experiences that maybe bring us a tiny step closer to their higher plane.
So it was with Fyre - music festival experience that could never in fact have been achieved, but was imagined so fiercely that thousands of people signed up for it. Fyre was a Ponzi scheme of finance, and also of dreams.
Billy McFarland is the Bernie Madoff of influence Ponzi schemes, convincing investors, social influencers, marketers, promoters and entertainers to both believe and spread the dream, even when their eyes and minds were telling them that 10,000 millennials on a scrappy bit of dirt on an island in the Bahamas was never going to be a reality.
That, in spite of McFarland's scams that bookend the Fyre Festival debacle, and his subsequent 6 year jail sentence, some people are still believers speaks a lot for both his charisma and their gullibility.
The documentary is shameful list of the scorched earth McFarland left behind, from exploited construction workers all the way through to his faithful inner-circle.
It's jaw-dropping stuff, but a salient reminder that if even smart, successful people can be blinded by a good showman, our kids are at daily risk of having their faith, self-esteem, mental health, credibility and financial security threatened by the smoke and mirrors of social media.
I'm sure other people will see a different side to McFarland et al, and they may also criticise this documentary for its perspective, but for me it was both entertaining and a reminder that fairytales are almost always morality tales as well.
138 Reviews
Doesn't matter if Hulu or Netflix did it better
Maralzo19 January 2019
Netflix's take on the Fyre Festival fiasco has a more grounded vibe than Hulu's more montage-driven version. But ultimately both platforms do well in building up what the Fyre disaster was all about, both before and after it all. We can debate on the ethics of what occurred behind the scenes of each doc, at the end of the day there was little bias to be had as the message was the same: Billy McFarland was a delusional fraduster.
The real entertainment is seeing wealthy people predictably buy into the facade of luxury only to experience first world problems as if they have it worse than the middle class. When the "worst 24 hours of your life" involves a botched Bahamas vacation because some huge festival party you paid thousands for didn't happen, it just looks ridiculous compared to people going through real issues like years of no clean water in Flint, MI.
No one deserves to suffer, but there is hilarity in seeing self-important narcissistic party socialites who never worked a day in their lives get scammed because they put their trust in some circle of wealthy social media models and "influencers"...for some luxury party.
This documentary illustrates the perfect analogy of the social media illusion with the Fyre fest disaster. Some things are just too good to be true, and may even be a facade of something much much worse. It is an important documentary to raise awareness of the problems of social media and the concept of understanding what it takes to do something seemingly impossible.
The real entertainment is seeing wealthy people predictably buy into the facade of luxury only to experience first world problems as if they have it worse than the middle class. When the "worst 24 hours of your life" involves a botched Bahamas vacation because some huge festival party you paid thousands for didn't happen, it just looks ridiculous compared to people going through real issues like years of no clean water in Flint, MI.
No one deserves to suffer, but there is hilarity in seeing self-important narcissistic party socialites who never worked a day in their lives get scammed because they put their trust in some circle of wealthy social media models and "influencers"...for some luxury party.
This documentary illustrates the perfect analogy of the social media illusion with the Fyre fest disaster. Some things are just too good to be true, and may even be a facade of something much much worse. It is an important documentary to raise awareness of the problems of social media and the concept of understanding what it takes to do something seemingly impossible.
Cringeworthy escalation to the inevitable
plpregent22 January 2019
I remember seeing the infamous promotional video for this festival (not that I'm wealthy enough to attend this kind of event, but some friend sent me the link, so I could "contemplate" the "dream" that other people were going to live). I remember feeling confused about this: what is it, exactly? It's some music festival, but all we see is this Caribbean landscape with a yacht, jetskis and girls in bikinis. Not that this seemed just like a lure, but clearly this was just pretty archetypical promo that could have been just one of a thousand meaningless "influencer" videos in this Instagram era where people are more busy turning their life into a promotional object than living and enjoying it.
I also remember reading the Vice article documenting the extent of the disaster the actual event was. That article is what got me to understand that this was actually supposed to be a music festival (I did not bother looking into that sort of detail after being sent the initial promotional video, as it seemed like your typical, meaningless Instagram garbage).
Then, over a year later, I see this thing in the Netflix menu, and decide to watch it. This is an interesting story where what one would initially perceive as pure naivety clearly turns into plain deceit, and where the expectations of grandeur for the "dream" being sold were artificially inflated through social media. And on that last point, I think this documentary does a pretty decent job of mocking how social media and "influencers" (still can't believe that's how these parasites are called), in today's world, is all about style over substance, expectations vs. reality, and the culture of appealing people with luxury items and "lifestyle" while having an empty bank account or being in major debt. How many of these stories have we heard over the years, of people living the "good life", only to go bankrupt a few year later? This is the new "15 minutes of fame" concept, one heavily filtered picture at a time.
The documentary gathers a satisfying amount of interviews with people who worked on the event, of on-site footage before and during the event, and of other significant moments that show you the true colors of Billy McFarland and Ja Rule - the founders of this scam. You do get some insight on their mentality throughout, as Ja Rule and McFarland have no grasp whatsoever on reality and won't take no for an answer, regardless of whether what they want to do is within the realm of possibility or not. It does not matter to them. They're in the Caribbean, they always got a beer in their hands, and they couldn't care less about the logistics - until the very last second, when they got their back against the wall, but will take their customers' money regardless.
As I mentioned before, at first, it seems like they really are doing their best to materialize the vision they had. That vision, however, is soon enough unveiled as something that obviously won't happen, with mountains of financial and logistical challenges that just can't possibly be climbed, as could have easily been predicted, had the founders not been so short-sighted and stubborn.
The structure of the documentary quickly turns into a countdown to the event, and boy it's not short on cringey moments, let me tell you that. It obviously escalates as the event approaches and you know the ship is about to hit the iceberg, big time. While it may be hard to feel pity or sympathy towards rich kids who can afford to spend 25K on that kind of weekend getting ripped off, "Fyre" somewhat debunks a mentality that plagues North American society and reveals the emptiness behind each lavish lifestyle picture posted by these "influencers" on Instagram to a much wider scale by giving a prime example of an empty shell that was created and promoted on social media.
Overall, this "anatomy of a modern day disaster" documentary is very well put together, one cringeworthy moment after another. Worth watching if you've heard of this fiasco and you're curious about how it all went down.
I also remember reading the Vice article documenting the extent of the disaster the actual event was. That article is what got me to understand that this was actually supposed to be a music festival (I did not bother looking into that sort of detail after being sent the initial promotional video, as it seemed like your typical, meaningless Instagram garbage).
Then, over a year later, I see this thing in the Netflix menu, and decide to watch it. This is an interesting story where what one would initially perceive as pure naivety clearly turns into plain deceit, and where the expectations of grandeur for the "dream" being sold were artificially inflated through social media. And on that last point, I think this documentary does a pretty decent job of mocking how social media and "influencers" (still can't believe that's how these parasites are called), in today's world, is all about style over substance, expectations vs. reality, and the culture of appealing people with luxury items and "lifestyle" while having an empty bank account or being in major debt. How many of these stories have we heard over the years, of people living the "good life", only to go bankrupt a few year later? This is the new "15 minutes of fame" concept, one heavily filtered picture at a time.
The documentary gathers a satisfying amount of interviews with people who worked on the event, of on-site footage before and during the event, and of other significant moments that show you the true colors of Billy McFarland and Ja Rule - the founders of this scam. You do get some insight on their mentality throughout, as Ja Rule and McFarland have no grasp whatsoever on reality and won't take no for an answer, regardless of whether what they want to do is within the realm of possibility or not. It does not matter to them. They're in the Caribbean, they always got a beer in their hands, and they couldn't care less about the logistics - until the very last second, when they got their back against the wall, but will take their customers' money regardless.
As I mentioned before, at first, it seems like they really are doing their best to materialize the vision they had. That vision, however, is soon enough unveiled as something that obviously won't happen, with mountains of financial and logistical challenges that just can't possibly be climbed, as could have easily been predicted, had the founders not been so short-sighted and stubborn.
The structure of the documentary quickly turns into a countdown to the event, and boy it's not short on cringey moments, let me tell you that. It obviously escalates as the event approaches and you know the ship is about to hit the iceberg, big time. While it may be hard to feel pity or sympathy towards rich kids who can afford to spend 25K on that kind of weekend getting ripped off, "Fyre" somewhat debunks a mentality that plagues North American society and reveals the emptiness behind each lavish lifestyle picture posted by these "influencers" on Instagram to a much wider scale by giving a prime example of an empty shell that was created and promoted on social media.
Overall, this "anatomy of a modern day disaster" documentary is very well put together, one cringeworthy moment after another. Worth watching if you've heard of this fiasco and you're curious about how it all went down.
Better Than a Cheese Sandwich
matthewssilverhammer9 March 2019
As much as being about the failed festival, it's also about the unwieldy power of social media, which single-handedly created and destroyed this whole thing. But for those of us who take comfort in planning out events thoroughly, this is, quite simply, bone-chilling.
Biting, surreal look behind the scenes of a disaster
jehosaphet-5880321 January 2019
It was almost palpable, the sense of unease that you feel as the concert goers began to realize just how much of a disaster they'd signed up for...even though you knew it was coming.
This was a very well told story, and aside from that, the best thing I could say is that it was told very to-the-point. It wasn't a long, rambling documentary...it said what needed to be said, yet also gives the viewer a nuanced view of just how some of the people behind this promotion were able to be dragged in over their heads. You can't help but feel for some of these guys, as they were taken for just as much of a ride as the festival attendees, but lost more than just the cost of a ticket.
There's currently a Gofundme page set up for the owner of a restaurant who worked tirelessly to provide food for everyone, giving up her life savings in the process. Apparently she was very reluctant to speak on camera, as the issue is still very hurtful for her, but hopefully it'll end up being worth it for her having done so.
If you don't know much about this event, this is one heck of a story insofar as the difference between what was advertised and what was eventually produced, the dichotomy itself provided quite a bit of entertainment value with its "wow" factor. Great documentary on a very interesting part of our zeitgeist, a testament to the power of social media as well as its potential for abuse and the superficiality it helps foster.
If you don't know much about this event, this is one heck of a story insofar as the difference between what was advertised and what was eventually produced, the dichotomy itself provided quite a bit of entertainment value with its "wow" factor. Great documentary on a very interesting part of our zeitgeist, a testament to the power of social media as well as its potential for abuse and the superficiality it helps foster.
Worth it to watch on a Friday night at home.
joanacatbagan18 January 2019
This is a fascinating look on what really happened about the this failer festival from 2017. Goes to show it was just an event with a bunch of Influencers being tricked out of all their money and stranded on a desert island. I see literally nothing bad about that, we should have one every year. My kind of mess.
The dark side of the social media influencing
pubududias3 February 2019
You'll laugh at some of the scenes, but this whole thing is a no joke. The collapse of this whole event (it was inevitable since inception), shows that the governments should take necessary steps to prevent financial fraud caused by social media.
Best Comedy On Netflix
ricochet93-369-30880224 February 2019
Interesting case study on social media
t-s-ltpie19 January 2019
I remember hearing about Fyre Festival through friends on social media talking about how it looked like the coolest thing ever. I watched the promo video and it all seemed way too good to be true, but then I'm a cynic and I thought "Hey, maybe I'll be wrong". Yeah, not a chance.
This documentary in a lot of ways is a brilliant insight into social media & its influence on modern society. The entire festival was built up from promo videos posted on social media and posts from 'influencers' (a term that I absolutely hate and this documentary shows why you shouldn't trust 'influencers') that detailed an idealistic experience that every Instagram and Facebook obsessed kid would dream of.
The funniest thing is that in reality, these kids didn't actually want to attend the festival, rather they wanted to be seen attending it - they wanted to post about it on social media to show that THEY had been there. The whole festival was about the image, and that was a great marketing factor in the 'organisers' favour (I say 'organisers' because as you see in the documentary, it doesn't look like anyone organised anything here).
The beauty of this is that everything about the festival was surface level. There was nothing underneath. No-one had bothered to actually engage anyone with real business acumen in the festival planning industry until too late in the piece. It's probably one of the best examples of why money isn't necessarily the answer to everything. The co-founders had a lot of money and it didn't save anything. There needed to be some actual business development here and no-one really bothered to give that its dues.
The worst thing is that, while I didn't like the concept from the start, this type of festival could really have worked. Sure, it's still a complete shining example of the social media craze amongst our society but there was still potential. If there had been an actual plan from the start, and it wasn't throw together based on a promo video and 'influencer' posts, then we could have seen some revolutionary event that everyone wanted to attend, even if they didn't want to admit it. But we didn't see that. What we saw instead is a bunch of idiots thinking that their great ideas will just work because they're really passionate about them. Be careful of your obsession with your image, otherwise you might end up like ol' Billy.
This documentary in a lot of ways is a brilliant insight into social media & its influence on modern society. The entire festival was built up from promo videos posted on social media and posts from 'influencers' (a term that I absolutely hate and this documentary shows why you shouldn't trust 'influencers') that detailed an idealistic experience that every Instagram and Facebook obsessed kid would dream of.
The funniest thing is that in reality, these kids didn't actually want to attend the festival, rather they wanted to be seen attending it - they wanted to post about it on social media to show that THEY had been there. The whole festival was about the image, and that was a great marketing factor in the 'organisers' favour (I say 'organisers' because as you see in the documentary, it doesn't look like anyone organised anything here).
The beauty of this is that everything about the festival was surface level. There was nothing underneath. No-one had bothered to actually engage anyone with real business acumen in the festival planning industry until too late in the piece. It's probably one of the best examples of why money isn't necessarily the answer to everything. The co-founders had a lot of money and it didn't save anything. There needed to be some actual business development here and no-one really bothered to give that its dues.
The worst thing is that, while I didn't like the concept from the start, this type of festival could really have worked. Sure, it's still a complete shining example of the social media craze amongst our society but there was still potential. If there had been an actual plan from the start, and it wasn't throw together based on a promo video and 'influencer' posts, then we could have seen some revolutionary event that everyone wanted to attend, even if they didn't want to admit it. But we didn't see that. What we saw instead is a bunch of idiots thinking that their great ideas will just work because they're really passionate about them. Be careful of your obsession with your image, otherwise you might end up like ol' Billy.
Money ego rich kids delusions
roxmewild3 February 2019
I guess not being a social media follower or a rich kid I was unaware of this festival fraud.
The whole part of a festival for me is about the camping music and atmosphere such as I have experienced at Glastonbury and other UK music festivals.
Hand on heart I can't feel sorry for all the rich kids that got duped specialy after listening to one of them admit to wrecking the large dome like tents and pissing on beds because he didn't want people staying in them near him!
However I do feel sorry for the local people who worked hard and not only didn't get paid but also lost their own money in the process
I have never heard of Billy McFarland the guy who organised ,lied and in effect stole millions in the process of selling a 5 star music festival experience to the over privalaged and delivering a bag of s***e.
The main thing that left me speechless was the sentence that this guy was given,taking into account that whilst on bail he tried to and did sell exclusive tickets to high profile events under another person that were also not genuine ! Apparently this holds a 20 year sentence of which he was given 6 yrs!! WTF so he basically got a slap on the wrist!
Wouldn't surprise me if he has a pimped out cell to boot!
This is the better of the two documaries, but watch both.
ejonconrad22 January 2019
When it rains it pours. Both Netflix and Hulu decided to come out with documentaries about the Fyre Festival at almost exactly the same time.
The main takeaway from both is just how easy it is to separate people from a *lot* of money if you're willing to lie with a straight face, and when it comes to that, there's really no substitute for letting McFarland tell the story in his own words, which is what the Hulu version does. Unfortunately, so much of that version is devoted to him that they leave out some pretty important things, so if you only watch one, definitely watch this one instead.
This version is a much better documentary all around, and gives a much more complete picture of what happened.
I had exactly the same reaction watching this as I do watching documentaries about religious cults. There's no question McFarland is a pathological liar and narcissistic sociopath, and absolutely everything about him is a red flag. If I ran into someone like that, I would immediately conclude he was at best a blowhard, and more likely a straight up con man, yet somehow he was able to put a lot sincere, hard working people under his spell, some of whom were young and naive, but some of whom definitely should have known better.
My guess is he's already running scams from inside Club Fed, but if not, there's no question he'll waste no time once he gets out, and he'll have no trouble finding marks.
Of course, in the end, the real victims are the Bahamians worked round the clock trying to make this happened, and then didn't get paid. They were pretty much left out of the Hulu version, but my understanding is that this film is raising awareness of them, and they're getting some relief.
The main takeaway from both is just how easy it is to separate people from a *lot* of money if you're willing to lie with a straight face, and when it comes to that, there's really no substitute for letting McFarland tell the story in his own words, which is what the Hulu version does. Unfortunately, so much of that version is devoted to him that they leave out some pretty important things, so if you only watch one, definitely watch this one instead.
This version is a much better documentary all around, and gives a much more complete picture of what happened.
I had exactly the same reaction watching this as I do watching documentaries about religious cults. There's no question McFarland is a pathological liar and narcissistic sociopath, and absolutely everything about him is a red flag. If I ran into someone like that, I would immediately conclude he was at best a blowhard, and more likely a straight up con man, yet somehow he was able to put a lot sincere, hard working people under his spell, some of whom were young and naive, but some of whom definitely should have known better.
My guess is he's already running scams from inside Club Fed, but if not, there's no question he'll waste no time once he gets out, and he'll have no trouble finding marks.
Of course, in the end, the real victims are the Bahamians worked round the clock trying to make this happened, and then didn't get paid. They were pretty much left out of the Hulu version, but my understanding is that this film is raising awareness of them, and they're getting some relief.
Fascinating
Gordon-1110 February 2019
This documentary tells the fraud of a music festival that was never going to exist.
The documentary is really well done because you hear from so many people right at the source. The employees and customers recall their accounts which is pretty convincing already. The fact that there was so much footage documenting the planning of the festival makes it even more fascinating, giving an insight into how the huge scam evolves. It is a fascinating documentary.
The documentary is really well done because you hear from so many people right at the source. The employees and customers recall their accounts which is pretty convincing already. The fact that there was so much footage documenting the planning of the festival makes it even more fascinating, giving an insight into how the huge scam evolves. It is a fascinating documentary.
A fool & your money
The_Boxing_Cat7 September 2019
A tale about fraudster, Billy MacFarland and how he ripped off a bunch of shallow people along with his sidekick Ja Rule (who looked like a damn fool and an idiot!).
The only people I felt sorry for was the islanders who worked tirelessly and never got paid.
The rest of his clan (who were interviewed for this documentary) weren't innocent either (but tried to convince the viewer they were), just more of the same... greedy money-grabbing narcissistic morons who got what they deserved.
The only people I felt sorry for was the islanders who worked tirelessly and never got paid.
The rest of his clan (who were interviewed for this documentary) weren't innocent either (but tried to convince the viewer they were), just more of the same... greedy money-grabbing narcissistic morons who got what they deserved.
Needed More Footage of "Influencers"
eop197231 January 2019
Would have been exponentially better with more footage of the disgustingly vapid "celebrity influencers" moaning about having to essentially what is for normal people called CAMPING for a night. Actually, it was glamping. I loved the comparisons from a few them to a "refugee camp" (utterly shameful) and "barbaric" accommodations. Tents on a beach. How horrifying. Yes, they were ripped off, but please. These people spend more on a pair of shoes. I have no sympathy for any of these people. I'm sure they have more footage of the "celebrities" (I didn't even know who 99% of these people were), but didn't incorporate it into the doc because these fakers didn't want to look like idiots and after all, their jobs are to "influence" and no one wants to upset the little whiners. That's a shame because it would be awesome to see a bunch of spoiled brats complaining about their cheese sandwiches while people are freezing to death in real refugee camps in Syria. Glad this guy is doing jail time though because seriously... he deserves it. Slime.
That German word ...
Devo-McDuff26 January 2019
A well made documentary, if apparently not overly balanced due to production involvement of parties actually involved in the original events. There is a lovely dose of schadenfreuden in witnessing what happens the vacuous people sucked in to the social media 'influencer' nonsense but on the flip-side it is pretty heart-breaking to see the effect on the islands workers, local business owners etc.
Fyre Festival, a social media scum!
beatmaster10125 January 2019
This is exactly the right documentary about the social media age and the so called influencers. How a specific guy took advantage of the whole absurdity in order to make a profit and turned out to be a huge crook, taking full exploitation of the morons who are so into the lifestyle of the 21st century - trying to be social media models (or look like them), playing their own little reality show by living the high life. And at the end you're reminded that there were some hard working people, festival professionals and local Bahamians, that worked really hard to pull this off and ended up losing a lot of money plus part of their own dignity. Strong piece of film.
Epic fail
Calicodreamin21 April 2020
Good documentary on the epic fail that was Fyre festival. The interviewees were relevant and provided good insight. The doc was organized and the storyline and a steady flow. The story itself is wild, showing how one person can manipulate people into doing whatever they want, including working for free and paying thousands for an fraudulent experience.
When You Play With Fyre, You Get Burned
clintstevens19 January 2019
I had not heard of this festival or even it's outcome, but that could be because I am far from being in the class of people that were duped. I feel sorry for the honest minority who were robbed of their hard-earned wages and their livelihood.
That is the extent of my sorrow. It's hard to feel sorry for the upper class who think nothing of paying thousands of dollars for a weekend of debauchery. For a short time, they got to see first hand how the 'little people' live; no shelter, no food, no sanitation.
Hearing a socialite complain that the jet trip to the Bahamas was like 'riding in economy class' sums it up. And Billy McFarland will no doubt be back to prey on the wealthy again.
That is the extent of my sorrow. It's hard to feel sorry for the upper class who think nothing of paying thousands of dollars for a weekend of debauchery. For a short time, they got to see first hand how the 'little people' live; no shelter, no food, no sanitation.
Hearing a socialite complain that the jet trip to the Bahamas was like 'riding in economy class' sums it up. And Billy McFarland will no doubt be back to prey on the wealthy again.
Worth a stream
tmartin-7872119 January 2019
I wasn't that interested in watching a documentary about this festival. But after the reviews I decided to give it a watch. This is a well made documentary that keeps you engaged and while I didn't sympathize with the attendees, I did with the crew, especially the islanders who worked tirelessly on this festival. It is an interesting/entertaining story and I'm glad this was made due to the social statement that I felt this film ultimately made. (There are plenty of docs nowadays that are not engaging and don't need to exist). I haven't seen the Hulu version, nor do I plan too. I trusted the critics on this one.
I Still Haven't Stopped Laughing...
lewilewis199724 February 2020
I'm an oldie, and a festival veteran that has seen once great events get hijacked by the rich and gentrified. Even Burning Man is now a cabal of trust fund kids desperate to prove that their inherited wealth isn't the reason for Global Warming, because they got there in a pig poop powered bus and have a Celtic tattoo. Glastonbury is now about which fashion designer made your wellington boots.
Getting covered in mud, rained out, wind swept, sun burnt, dehydrated, not eating for 2 days were part of the experience. One thing you could rely on was that fellow festival goers would help out if you needed it, there was always a sense of camaraderie. Even the original Woodstock, a living hell, was turned into one of the greatest ever experiences because of the love shown to each other by total strangers. The common factor back in the day was that these festivals had grown from nothing, were organic, the bad ones died off, the good ones grew. Not FYRE, my God, not even close.
The more I watched this doc' the more vindicated I felt about my own views of what the festival scene has become. It's now riddled with fakers, fraudsters, wannabes, poseurs, social media addicts and worst of all...people that don't even love music, just themselves and their Instagram accounts. From the beginning, although I have no conclusive evidence, I suspect cocaine was a huge factor. Macho Alpha's trying to out snort each other and construct more elaborate party schemes to promote an app' until they ended up with FYRE. Surely buying Pablo Escobar's island, and then promoting it as such is a clue? (The festival was on that particular island until cancelled by PE's lawyer after FYRE used his name).
The oneness and kinship often displayed at other festivals in the past when things got tough was missing here. The slightest adversity turned 5,000 socialites into a baying mob that turned on each other for toilet roll. Imagine Lord Of The Flies but without the rescue at the end? Welcome to FYRE on day 1, day 1 !!! In all of my time I've never heard the cry 'Where's my villa'?! You were lucky if you had a 2 person tent and it was definitely a luxury. FYRE had large domed tents with beds and mattresses in, but just weren't good enough, apparently. As organisers fled the blood thirsty, vengeful mob and unpaid contractors we're left looking at the wreckage and an island ripped of by rich guys yet again.
This is a story of greed, machismo, hype, fakery and blatant fraud. But also a moral tale. Karma does exist and it really doesn't care how much money you have.
I laughed so much I'm about to watch this again. It's my new happy place.
Getting covered in mud, rained out, wind swept, sun burnt, dehydrated, not eating for 2 days were part of the experience. One thing you could rely on was that fellow festival goers would help out if you needed it, there was always a sense of camaraderie. Even the original Woodstock, a living hell, was turned into one of the greatest ever experiences because of the love shown to each other by total strangers. The common factor back in the day was that these festivals had grown from nothing, were organic, the bad ones died off, the good ones grew. Not FYRE, my God, not even close.
The more I watched this doc' the more vindicated I felt about my own views of what the festival scene has become. It's now riddled with fakers, fraudsters, wannabes, poseurs, social media addicts and worst of all...people that don't even love music, just themselves and their Instagram accounts. From the beginning, although I have no conclusive evidence, I suspect cocaine was a huge factor. Macho Alpha's trying to out snort each other and construct more elaborate party schemes to promote an app' until they ended up with FYRE. Surely buying Pablo Escobar's island, and then promoting it as such is a clue? (The festival was on that particular island until cancelled by PE's lawyer after FYRE used his name).
The oneness and kinship often displayed at other festivals in the past when things got tough was missing here. The slightest adversity turned 5,000 socialites into a baying mob that turned on each other for toilet roll. Imagine Lord Of The Flies but without the rescue at the end? Welcome to FYRE on day 1, day 1 !!! In all of my time I've never heard the cry 'Where's my villa'?! You were lucky if you had a 2 person tent and it was definitely a luxury. FYRE had large domed tents with beds and mattresses in, but just weren't good enough, apparently. As organisers fled the blood thirsty, vengeful mob and unpaid contractors we're left looking at the wreckage and an island ripped of by rich guys yet again.
This is a story of greed, machismo, hype, fakery and blatant fraud. But also a moral tale. Karma does exist and it really doesn't care how much money you have.
I laughed so much I'm about to watch this again. It's my new happy place.
Despair for humanity
harrylosborne1 February 2019
Not more than thought provoking into how delusional rich middle class people can be... millions of dollars being sunk into a delusional pipe dream that could be disuaded by a cursory internet search. Distressing that it progressed as far as it did in the end!
A fascinating disaster
ComedyFan20101 April 2019
I didn't know much about Fyre. Just read back in 2017 that some festival failed big time and saw lots of people enjoying the fact that rich people were victims of a fraud. Like in many reviews here, the usual hate towards people who have more money than them. "If I can't have it, nobody should". But that was it.
So I was curious to see what it was all about when I saw this documentary on Netflix. And it sure is worth watching, a really fascinating story. The documentary was built very well. We see it all building up towards the disaster and then the footage how it all crashed. It also has people who were part of the crew working on it giving us some inside information.
At the end I feel sorry for all of them except for Billy of course. It is amazing that he still went on with fraud after already being arrested. Wow! This is all I can say about this whole story.
So I was curious to see what it was all about when I saw this documentary on Netflix. And it sure is worth watching, a really fascinating story. The documentary was built very well. We see it all building up towards the disaster and then the footage how it all crashed. It also has people who were part of the crew working on it giving us some inside information.
At the end I feel sorry for all of them except for Billy of course. It is amazing that he still went on with fraud after already being arrested. Wow! This is all I can say about this whole story.
Engaging but only half the story - watch Fyre Fraud for the full picture
soulfx-19 January 2020
This documentary was created by the social media company (Jerry Media) that is largely responsible for lying and promoting the event, even despite knowing that it was a fraud - they continued to promote its grandeur. Take what they say with a grain of salt, because this documentary was manufactured to defend their company and the influencers they used to peddle the lies.
With that said, this is a highly engaging documentary - largely because they have footage that was considered "internal" - they mostly shift the blame and try to make Billy the sole villain, even protecting Jah Rule to an extent. It's worth watching and then watching the Fyre Festival movie (on Hulu/Youtube) to get the full story of what happened.
I gave it a higher rating than the Hulu version, solely because the production value is better and less cheesy, but there are important details missing from this version that are better filled in on the Fyre Fraud documentary.
With that said, this is a highly engaging documentary - largely because they have footage that was considered "internal" - they mostly shift the blame and try to make Billy the sole villain, even protecting Jah Rule to an extent. It's worth watching and then watching the Fyre Festival movie (on Hulu/Youtube) to get the full story of what happened.
I gave it a higher rating than the Hulu version, solely because the production value is better and less cheesy, but there are important details missing from this version that are better filled in on the Fyre Fraud documentary.
Great documentary, a scary look at Americas future
DylanMcChillin22 January 2019
Warning: Spoilers
This documentary is very well made. As pointed in other reviews, this one is far superior to the Hulu documentary. I appreciated all the interviews and background information. That being said, the host of the festival was made out to be a grade A d-bag and entitled. As were most of the festival goers. One of the customers was laughing because his friend urinated on mattresses to ensure that they could be separated from everyone (the very first night.) I would expect people to start engaging in rude and animalistic behaviors after a few days, but they did it the very first night. It really showed that millennials are completely unprepared for anything that doesn't go as planned. The other thing that was disturbing was how self-entitled some of the creators were. One of the guys thought that a sexual favor from him to bribe a custom official was worth $175,000! What planet does he live on? Overall a great documentary, but a scary look at the future of America.
If you're only going to watch one documentary about the Fyre Festival: make it the Hulu one instead of this.
supercamman203 February 2019
Funny how things work out; both Netflix and Hulu have released a documentary on the infamous scam that was the Fyre Festival. The two documentaries approach the story from a different angle and, having seen both of them now, the Hulu one, "Fyre Fraud," is definitely the stronger of the two; it offers far more context and it's much more entertaining than this one.
Netflix's "Fyre" omits a lot of context and the finer details of surrounding events, in order to offer a much-more narrow focus on the specific crew members responsible for organising the event and, as a consequence of the Fyre Festival crew's direct involvement, is much more biased with the film insistently implying that the event was merely an "honest mistake" instead of a deliberate scam. Yet, despite ignoring key facts in order to cast the event in a more positive light, I have a greater criticism towards the production itself: unfortunately, "Fyre" relies on a "tell; don't show" approach to documentary making; it's much more of a disjointed collection of orated testimony than a comprehensive audio-visual record of what happened. Then there's Hulu's "Fyre Fraud" which, as the name suggest, takes a step back to focus on Billy Macfarland's long-game con, offering information on the antecedent events, the lasting cultural and legal impact, and plenty of concurrent transactions that aren't exclusively focused on the "Fyre Festival" itself. This extra context plus the greater breadth of the documentary, make it more accessible to people not already familiar with scandal. Additionally, visuals and music play a much bigger part of the viewing experience. It does all of this while retaining a slight sense of humour about things and offering some provocative subtext on the hollow promises at the heart of a generation's optimism. So here we are: two documentaries; each offering a unique perspective on the same scandal. If you have the time, it can be worth while to watch both of them to get a more-complete picture of what happened this controversial disaster. I definitely prefer "Fyre Fraud's" greater context and insight on the key figures involved but I can also see why some people may prefer "Fyre's" more-narrow, sympathetic focus; to put it in ratings, I'd give "Fyre Fraud" a 9/10 and "Fyre" a 6/10.
If you want to know everything about the Fyre Festival you can: watch both. If you're only going to watch one: watch Hulu's "Fyre Fraud"; it offers more context and is generally far more entertaining.
Netflix's "Fyre" omits a lot of context and the finer details of surrounding events, in order to offer a much-more narrow focus on the specific crew members responsible for organising the event and, as a consequence of the Fyre Festival crew's direct involvement, is much more biased with the film insistently implying that the event was merely an "honest mistake" instead of a deliberate scam. Yet, despite ignoring key facts in order to cast the event in a more positive light, I have a greater criticism towards the production itself: unfortunately, "Fyre" relies on a "tell; don't show" approach to documentary making; it's much more of a disjointed collection of orated testimony than a comprehensive audio-visual record of what happened. Then there's Hulu's "Fyre Fraud" which, as the name suggest, takes a step back to focus on Billy Macfarland's long-game con, offering information on the antecedent events, the lasting cultural and legal impact, and plenty of concurrent transactions that aren't exclusively focused on the "Fyre Festival" itself. This extra context plus the greater breadth of the documentary, make it more accessible to people not already familiar with scandal. Additionally, visuals and music play a much bigger part of the viewing experience. It does all of this while retaining a slight sense of humour about things and offering some provocative subtext on the hollow promises at the heart of a generation's optimism. So here we are: two documentaries; each offering a unique perspective on the same scandal. If you have the time, it can be worth while to watch both of them to get a more-complete picture of what happened this controversial disaster. I definitely prefer "Fyre Fraud's" greater context and insight on the key figures involved but I can also see why some people may prefer "Fyre's" more-narrow, sympathetic focus; to put it in ratings, I'd give "Fyre Fraud" a 9/10 and "Fyre" a 6/10.
If you want to know everything about the Fyre Festival you can: watch both. If you're only going to watch one: watch Hulu's "Fyre Fraud"; it offers more context and is generally far more entertaining.
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