The story of how the FYRE festival failed is at times unbelievable, given the amount of neglect shown by event-runner Billy MacFarland. It’s a tale that reflects our modern era of technology and online clout, the need to feel popular, and the fear of missing out. The true story of the FYRE festival has manifested in itself in two documentaries, one of which was the Netflix original named FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened (the other ones is Hulu’s Fyre Fraud).
How to Stream or Download FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened
The film can be streamed or it can be downloaded via the Netflix App. The file size is 423 MB. If you want To stream or to download more Netflix originals, we suggest also Bird Box, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch or The Haunting of Hill House.
The Documentary Review
When the FYRE music festival was originally advertised, it promised concertgoers a jam-packed lineup at a luxury destination in the Bahamas. Originally planned as a marketing stunt for a separate phone app, the music festival became one of the most anticipated events of 2017. The marketing campaign showed some of the world’s top supermodels enjoying the sun, and promised guests an elite level of class.
Tickets were expensive too, with some packages costing upwards of $250,000. When the festival came to fruition, it ended up stranding thousands of visitors in the Bahamas with no food, water, or shelter.
Whereas other documentaries quickly lay out the FYRE festival ordeal from a legal standpoint, Netflix’s documentary tells the story in a more chronological order. Thanks to the extensive amount of footage capture by a camera crew, we get to see the festival’s inception from the front lines. It’s an organic way of telling the story, and it builds an interesting tone of suspense.
In that way, it’s a bit more sensational. Despite this, the overwhelming amount of footage feels honest and unbiased.
FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened is an interesting documentary that is both baffling, hilarious, and at times, truly upsetting. We get to see behind-the-scenes footage of incredibly irresponsible people mishandling hundreds of thousands of dollars, all in an effort to exploit the general population.
It’s not a “feel good” documentary by any stretch, as some of its most memorable moments will make you quell with anger. FYRE festival was meant to be set on a tropical island and promised attendees the trip of a lifetime. While part of that is true, that once-in-a-lifetime trip turned out to be more than anyone had asked for.
If you’re curious how social media, the fear of missing out, and the hope of fame and fortune can alter someone’s perception, then Netflix’s FYRE documentary is one you should definitely check out. The documentary itself is produced by the same company who handled the FYRE festival marketing campaign, which does present a conflict of interest.
However, if you can look past the obvious blame-shifting and standard “he said, she said” conjecture, you can gain a lot of insight on how deceptive advertising and social media can be.
FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Was is a worthwhile watch, and it will have both chuckling and angry. At the very least, you’ll get to see hundreds of people stranded on an island Survivor-style, and the very serious fallout of fraudulent business practices.
