Belgium Just Had Its Own Fyre Festival With VestiVille
Remember Fyre Festival? Of course you remember Fyre Festival. It was an entertaining trainwreck of the highest order, the kind of slow-motion disaster that you just can’t look away from. And now Belgium has had its very own Fyre Festival in the form of VestiVille, another luxury festival experience — with Ja Rule! — that turned out to be anything but.
VestiVille was supposed to take place this weekend, 6/28-30, in Kristalpark, Lommel. Along with Ja Rule and Ashanti, the bill boasted appearances from Cardi B, Future, A$AP Rocky, Migos, Meek Mill, and more. A promotional video for the fest, featuring a terrible Cardi B impersonator, promised guests luxury VIP villas with private gardens and room service.
From this video, this is what @VestiVille promised us, “luxury VIP villas” “private garden” “private beach” “room service” 😍😍 sounds amazing right ? 😑😑😑 pic.twitter.com/sHaqdjIV8U
— Miami Rose (@MiamiRosexo) June 28, 2019
Instead, as Def Pen reports, concertgoers who arrived at the grounds were met with chaos and confusion. The morning of the festival, A$AP Rocky pulled out, citing “security and infrastructure concerns which relate to the production of the show.” Less than an hour later, the entire festival was cancelled.
“Today at 5:00 PM the mayor of Lommel decided to not let Vestiville start,” read a statement from the festival organizers. “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.”
— LORD FLACKO JODYE II (@asvpxrocky) June 28, 2019
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
By the time the official cancellation announcement was made, festivalgoers had already been waiting for hours at the camp site. There was no food, water, or transportation available. Some attendees managed to get inside the locked fence of the festival grounds, where they helped themselves to beer, danced on the stage, and emptied fire extinguishers. Several hundred ticketholders ended up spending the night on the campgrounds before being shuttled to the train station by bus today.
VestiVille organizers tweeted that “the organisation will now consult with their official partners about a refund,” but it remains to be seen if that will end up happening. And The Brussels Times reports that three of the organizers have now been charged with fraud involving false invoices, forgery, money laundering, and abuse of trust as a result of complaints brought by unpaid suppliers.
Check out scenes from Fyre Fest 2.0 below.
Currently at @VestiVille – this is FYRE festival 2.0 – was not allowed to leave the campsite during 14hours to go get food or water and they were not selling any either #vestiville
— BadgalCharchar (@sixcharlotte_) June 28, 2019
#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
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
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
I was really the only act at #Vestiville 😂 pic.twitter.com/BGNQIgUKoE
— SAMMY (@samanthamutongi) June 28, 2019
Jacquees was the only artist that show up, aww bless him #Vestiville pic.twitter.com/LjPJV4ubgw
— SAMMY (@samanthamutongi) June 28, 2019
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