Europe just couldn’t let the Bahamas have all the Fyre Festival fun.

A similar disaster unravelled in Europe this weekend when the VestiVille music festival was cancelled. The event has since been dubbed Fyre 2.0.

Fyre Fest was arguably one of the most publicized music festival disasters in history. Scheduled to take place over two weekends in 2017 on the Bahamian island of Great Exuma, the event promised to be the world’s greatest “luxury music festival” until disaster struck on its inaugural weekend. Instead of luxury villas and gourmet meals worthy of the pricey tickets, attendees were put up in FEMA tents and fed packaged cheese sandwiches.

Fyre Fest was postponed indefinitely and its organizer eventually charged with fraud. The shock and horror surrounding the festival were later captured in two documentaries, FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened by Netflix and Fyre Fraud by Hulu.

While many hoped Fyre was a one-off disaster, VestiVille has just put itself in the running for most epic festival fail.

VestiVille

VestiVille was supposed to be a three-day music festival taking place in Lommel, Belgium from June 28 to 30th. The allegedly “LIT” lineup included top industry names such as A$AP Rocky, Cardi B, Migos, Future, Meek Mill, and Ja Rule.

Attendees from all over the world paid hundreds of Euros for tickets and even more on flights and accommodations after being enticed by event teasers and promo videos.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by VestiVille (@vestiville) on Jan 31, 2019 at 1:00am PST

Unfortunately, festival goers arrived on opening day to discover that the whole event was cancelled. Outraged, they immediately took to Twitter.



Vestiville is cancelled 😤 pic.twitter.com/0DfW8ZLJXr — Miami Rose (@MiamiRosexo) June 28, 2019

Fuming that #Vestiville is cancelled, the fact that it’s in ANOTHER COUNTRY🙃tell me what I’m meant to do in Belgium?? — courtney✨ (@courrttneyyx) June 28, 2019

What went wrong at VestiVille?

The entire festival was apparently cancelled after A$AP Rocky announced he would not perform due to “security and infrastructure concerns.”

Digital Music News reports that the main stage was unfinished. The venue also lacked proper emergency exits and functioning medical stations, among other essential features.

A$AP Rocky released a statement on Twitter just before 5 pm on opening night to explain his reasons for backing out.

Sooo apparently #Vestiville has been cancelled, #asaprocky pulled out because it wasn’t safe

He allegedly called the authorities because #Vestiville had no security, license or permit for the festival 😱 pic.twitter.com/ULjyG8FxEm — ani_oge® 🇳🇬🇩🇪 (@anioge3) June 28, 2019

According to the festival’s Twitter and Facebook pages, it was Lommel mayor Bob Nijs who prevented the festival from starting.

Today at 5:00 PM the mayor of Lommel decided to not let Vestiville start. After consultation with the security services and ASAP Rocky’s security officer, it was decided that the safety of the artist and the public could not be guaranteed. — VestiVille (@VestiVille) June 28, 2019

Production and suppliers have given everything to make Vestiville possible. The campsite will remain open for the time being and an organized festival exit will be organized in consultation with the municipality. — VestiVille (@VestiVille) June 28, 2019

The organisation will now consult with their official partners about a refund. — VestiVille (@VestiVille) June 28, 2019

Though the campsite remained open, there was allegedly no food or water for sale. On the ground, further chaos ensued due to a lack of communication, organization, and preparation.

#Vestiville is a fake just got to the festival camp site not even set up no food and no transport — Harvey.Bordley (@HarveyBordley) June 27, 2019

Scenes at @VestiVille were beyond scary. Unprofessional and so unsafe. No announcement regarding cancellation and staff members put at risk. Ridiculous pic.twitter.com/IitjUjvFze — Cristina (@CristinaXO_LJoy) June 28, 2019

Attendees were also allegedly “stranded” after finding out the event was cancelled due to a lack of organized transport.

Finally leaving Fyre Festival part 2, I’m gonna be the black lady at the end crying for sure 😔 #Vestiville pic.twitter.com/NiNvd79NBX — Miami Rose (@MiamiRosexo) June 28, 2019

Rather than leading a safe exit strategy, police forces who were waiting on premises with dogs allegedly caused crowds to panic and run.

Here you can see everyone trying to get inside but are being hold back by the police. #Vestiville #vestiville2019 #Lommel pic.twitter.com/P677yJa0N8 — Gevor Gevv (@GevorGevv) June 29, 2019

Police were waiting inside with dogs for people to start running in instead of defusing and getting us to leave safely pic.twitter.com/S6T5Kr7DHG — Cristina (@CristinaXO_LJoy) June 28, 2019

Fyre 2.0?

Following the disaster, many couldn’t help but point out the similarities between VestiVille and 2017’s Fyre Festival.

Did #Vestiville organisers watch the Fyre Festival documentary and thought: Challenge accepted, let’s make the European edition 🤔 — Priya Charity (@PriyaCharity) June 28, 2019

#vestiville organisers watching the Fyre Festival Netflix documentary pic.twitter.com/bCsShahbLe — ImaaniFX (@ImaaniFX) June 28, 2019

Just like Fyre, VestiVille sold luxury amenities that turned out to be… not so luxurious.

This fake Cardi B voiceover for #Vestiville is sending me 😬🤣 https://t.co/MGSTOoJVGB — $Melknee of Internet✨ (@Melknee) June 28, 2019

Another uncanny similarity is that rapper Ja Rule, a co-organizer of Fyre Fest, was featured on the VestiVille lineup.

12 more days to go! pic.twitter.com/wFGpqdD6CH — VestiVille (@VestiVille) June 16, 2019

Yall saw JA RULE on the #Vestiville lineup and STILL BOUGHT TICKETS?! Lmfaooo yall are really dumber than i thought. — oriyomi. (@ChuchiiLo) June 28, 2019

People have also taken to Twitter with several other observations that may warrant deeper investigation.

Wait..hold up, #Vestiville was organised by a pair who call themselves ‘2Crooks’ on Instagram. This can’t be real 🤣 — Priya Charity (@PriyaCharity) June 29, 2019

HOW ARE YOU GONNA GO TO A FESTIVAL WHEN THE ORGANIZERS NAME IS LITERALLY 2CROOKS?! DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE FLYING TO A DIFFERENT CONTINENT#Vestiville pic.twitter.com/74fz6C0UNk — THEODIS JONES (@theodisxjones) June 28, 2019

So Vestiville's headquarters is based in Antwerp-Central (as in the railway station) 😂😂😂#vestiville pic.twitter.com/nXIq41MKXN — Papi Suave (@Papisuaveeee) June 28, 2019

The Aftermath of VestiVille

Many attendees are now seeking refunds, with no sign of success.

#vestiville wait two hours to get in and it’s cancelled, spent 800 pound in total and came all the way from the uk are u mad. And apparently no refund? The debt is mad 🤣 — Harvey.Bordley (@HarveyBordley) June 28, 2019

American Vestiville goers asking if their thousands of dollars will be refunded smh. Shame on you @VestiVille. #Vestiville pic.twitter.com/bmbtRJuNId — BelgianKush (@BelgianKush) June 28, 2019

“Went to #Vestiville and LITERALLY all i got was this stupid tshirt” pic.twitter.com/gzJc2FgQXu — Mona-Lisa (@MorganLouiza) June 30, 2019

Meanwhile, others were solely focused on leaving the festival grounds.

While many festival goers walked away with nothing more than subpar merchandise, a lucky few managed to find the artists who actually turned up and performed on the weekend.

My friend got scammed by the #vestiville ting and then ended up going to a club and treysongz and jacquees just turned up and started performing 😂 pic.twitter.com/xPHDoOn6h8 — D. (@manlikedami) June 29, 2019

Think you can put on a better music festival? We know just the place. According to CNN, Saddleback Cay, the private island best known for its appearance in Fyre Festival promotion videos, is now for sale for US $11.8 million.

As for those who prefer to remain festival goers, be sure to do your research and proceed with caution.

See also: