Blink-182 Exit Troubled Fyre Festival Event, Unveil ‘Strange’ New Song ‘6/8′ [Update]
Blink-182 expected to be playing the Fyre Festival in the Bahamas this weekend, but the band has revealed that they've pulled out of the event, which appears to be facing quite a few issues.
In a statement released via social media, the group explained, "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."
The luxury festival is taking place in Exumas in the Bahamas, but there are serious doubts about whether organizers will be able to pull it off. Tickets for the event ran between $4,000 and $12,000 with the price of admission including a chartered flight from Miami, private villas, yacht rides and performances from acts ranging from Blink-182 to Tyga, Major Lazer, Pusha T, Disclosure and others.
However, there have been rumors of trouble with the festival for weeks, and Billboard reports one agent stated that organizers had to renegotiate the guarantees they were offering to artists after the costs of hosting the festival skyrocketed. Billboard also reports that in some cases, the artists performing at the event had not been paid in full.
Adding to the issues, an airline representative told passengers, "We have been advised by Fyre, the tour operator of your flight, that they can no longer accept any guests in Exuma. Due to overcapacity on the island, we need to cancel the flights to ensure the safety of our guests."
William Finley posted the below photo on Twitter and told Billboard, "There's no communication on the island. They're basically disaster relief tents. With a mattress on some sort of bed frame. They're not that uncomfortable but the tents are so poorly made that they'd blow over in a second if there was any wind or rain. We aren't even sure if it's open."
Update: After a disastrous first day, the Fyre Festival has shut down for the remainder of the scheduled event. A statement on the matter can be read as follows:
Fyre Festival set out to provide a once-in-a-lifetime musical experience on the Islands of the Exumas.
Due to circumstances out of our control, the physical infrastructure was not in place on time and we are unable to fulfill on that vision safely and enjoyably for our guests. At this time, we are working tirelessly to get flights scheduled and get everyone off of Great Exuma and home safely as quickly as we can. We ask that guests currently on-island do not make their own arrangements to get to the airport as we are coordinating those plans. We are working to place everyone on complimentary charters back to Miami today; this process has commenced and the safety and comfort of our guests is our top priority.
The festival is being postponed until we can further assess if and when we are able to create the high- quality experience we envisioned.
We ask for everyone's patience and cooperation during this difficult time as we work as quickly and safely as we can to remedy this unforeseeable situation. We will continue to provide regular updates via email to our guests and via our official social media channels as they become available.
-The Fyre Festival Team
While Blink fans who purchased packages may be disappointed by the band's exit from the Fyre Festival, they do have some new music to enjoy. The band issued yet another new song from their forthcoming deluxe edition release of the California album. The track is called "6/8," a reference to the song's time signature.
The group said of the song, which can be heard below, "This is the strangest song Blink have ever recorded. It's in 6/8 time. It's aggressive & one of our favorites from the deluxe because of it." The deluxe edition of California is not your typical "add a couple of songs" release, as the band recorded 11 new songs for the effort. You can look for the updated edition to arrive on May 19.
Blink-182, "6/8"
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