The worst music festival is back: bigger, more expensive, more fraudulent?

The scam went viral, Netflix cashed in on it with a documentary , and its organizer ended up behind bars. Everything suggested that the Fyre Festival, which took place in 2017, would remain a historic fiasco. But that was without counting on its founder Billy McFarland, driven by delusions of grandeur, who has just announced the sale of tickets for the second edition of the self-proclaimed "best festival that has ever taken place."

“I’m sure a lot of people think I’m crazy to do this again,” Billy McFarland said in a statement posted on social media. “But I feel like I’d be crazy not to. After years of reflection and now thoughtful planning, the new team and I have incredible plans for Fyre 2. The adventurers who trust the vision and take the leap will help make history,” he added. The second edition is scheduled to take place from May 30 to June 2, 2025 on Isla Mujeres, an island accessible from Cancun, Mexico.

The 2,000 available tickets went on sale Monday on the festival's website , but no lineup has been announced. Are the organizers trying to adopt the same strategy as Hellfest ? Perhaps, but with one minor detail: Ticket prices range from $1,400 to $1.1 million. A pittance... For the most expensive package, Billy McFarland promises " luxury yachts, which we partner with, that will be moored off the island," according to NBC's "Today" show. The festival's website indicates that some attendees will be able to stay with the artists in five-star hotels on the island. History, the imaginary festival of Mr. Billy McFarland, unfortunately seems to be repeating itself.

The first edition of the Fyre Festival promised a luxurious music gathering on a private island in the Bahamas, as evidenced by the price of tickets going up to 12,000 euros. A few months before the big day, the organizers had paid a dozen internationally renowned top models like Emily Ratajkowski, Bella Hadid and Hailey Baldwin and 400 celebrities and influencers, including Kendall Jenner, to promote it on their social networks.

From reality to disappointing fiction there is only one step. In April 2017, when they arrived on the scene, thousands of wealthy personalities found themselves on a disused peninsula, forced to sleep in soggy plastic tents and eat stale sandwiches under their cellophane. Many headliners, including Blink-182, canceled their participation in the festival before the weekend even began. While festival-goers arrived in large numbers, the organizers finally put an end to the event due to “unforeseen and extenuating circumstances.”

The organizer of this farce is Billy McFarland. An entrepreneur with limitless ambitions but approximate logistics, he had visibly forgotten that an event of this magnitude required a minimum of organization. The island was not even the one sold in the advertisements and some festival-goers found themselves stuck without means of transport, in a vast muddy field. The affair ended in a shower of complaints and a conviction of McFarland to six years in prison for fraud in 2018. He was then released, - after less than four years in prison -, for good behavior.

Eight years later, Billy McFarland seems to have learned at least one lesson from this affair: he will not be handling the festival. On NBC's " Today" show, he assures that an "incredible production company" is in place and that it will "take care of everything." Yet the founder of the "worst music festival" admits to prospective ticket buyers that they are taking "a risk, because I made a lot of bad decisions and I screwed up the first festival. Until it's experienced, there's an element of risk."

With this second edition, Billy McFarland hopes to pocket $500,000 to pay part of the $26 million he still owes since his conviction. New fiasco or real revenge on the past? If the entry tickets do not promise the presence of Kendrick Lamar or Taylor Swift , we can't wait to know the final result.