By now, you've probably heard of the fiasco that is Fyre Festival. If you haven’t, this Consequence of Sound article sums up the disaster with just a few photos.
Basically, what was billed as a luxury music festival for the elite (tickets ranged from $4,000 to $12,000), turned out to be a glorified camping trip complete with wild dogs, stolen luggage, half-built tents and a couple of bread slices. Think “Lord of the Flies” but with a bunch of yuppies stranded in the Bahamas.
As might be expected, sympathy for the festival goers was hard to come by on social media. Some mocked the idea of music festivals altogether while others took a more political tact, comparing and contrasting the “plight” of wealthy attendees with the dire circumstances that war refugees face every day.
Rich kids at #FyreFestival: We paid $2000 to get here and all we got was crappy tents and our stuff stolen!
Refugees: Huh. Imagine that.— Svenja G (@SvenjaLiv) April 29, 2017
At the end of the day, hometown legends blink-182 made the decision to pull out as headliners of the troubled event: “Regrettably, and after much careful and difficult consideration, we want to let you know that we won’t be performing at Fyre Fest in the Bahamas this weekend and next weekend. We’re not confident that we would have what we need to give you the quality of performances we always give fans,” they posted on social media.
That being said, it’s not clear that the “festival,” organized in part by rapper Ja Rule, actually had enough sound or stage equipment to allow blink-182 to perform -- especially if Travis Barker wanted to do any rotating drum platform stunts.
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But there’s light at the end of this tunnel: Coinciding with the cancellation, blink-182 released their self-described strangest song ever, “6/8,” which you can stream below.
Fitting -- a strange song for a strange experience and a very strange time to be a music fan.
Rutger Rosenborg was almost a Stanford neuroscientist before he formed Ed Ghost Tucker. He now plays in the Lulls and makes music on his own when he's not writing. Follow his updates on Facebook or contact him directly.
