April 5, 2025 • 6 mins
Eight years after the infamous, fraudulent Fyre Festival, organiser Billy McFarland has promised the event will return again.
Following the end of his prison sentence, McFarland has expressed interest in organising a follow up - but he's had difficulty securing a location.
Steve Newall from Flicks.co.nz says representatives from Mexico's Playa del Carmen have confirmed the event will not be hosted there - causing more confusion about the event's future.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from news Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And we're starting our entertainment segment today with a little
bit of emm because Slim Shady is officially a grandpa.
So his daughter, Hayley Jade took to Instagram just this
morning to announce the arrival of her baby boy. She's
a podcaster and Infesta. She posted two photos of her baby,
(00:33):
born on March fourteenth, and a little knitted outfit which
is very cute, although it just makes me feel a
bit old thinking that Eminem is now a grandfather. Steve
Neil from editor at Flex dot cot and Z joins me.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Now, good morning, good morning, I join your hearty. Congratulations
Yes to mister m.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
There we go, Hey, new film at the box office.
It's called A Working Man. Stars Jason Statham doing what
he does best.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Exactly, having a job is what he does best. Statham's
been a mechanic, he's been a farmer, he's been a beekeeper,
he's been a diver, a driver, a transporter, many talents
as a construction worker, but it's Jason Stathams So he's
a construction worker with a.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Secret bast that's correct. That involves being very good at
fighting his way out of any situation, and in this
particular case, he has to go on the hunt for
his the family that he works for, the daughter is kidnapped,
and he decides doesn't need to try and help them out.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Absolutely so. His last film for director David Ayer, The Beekeeper,
which was a real treat of twenty twenty four, like
a big, silly, preposterous action film. The villains there were
scammers and fishers, like the sort of guys that try
and rip you off down the farn or on the computer,
(01:57):
and here they are human traffickers. So it's really just
kind of ticking off the different distinct groups of baddies.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Along with that, he's quite different films when it comes
to the enjoyment factor, I would.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Suggest, and for some audiences still Sylvester Stallone's Fingerprints will
be a good thing. It's probably to the detriment of
this film. He bought the novel this is based on
and developed it. You can probably sense that it could
be a Sylvesta Stallone film. The idea of this construction
worker with a heart of gold, with a strong moral
code who dusts off his long has long absent past
(02:35):
to become an action guy. Some of the sort of
moralizing this film is very sly, but the main reason
I bring it up actually is that this makes Statham
the most recent victim of local drama. TINR which has
been just continues to have seen off competition at the
box office week after week after week since it opened,
currently sitting number six on the all time list of
(02:56):
highest grossing films, having overtaken so On His Wedding, Tina's
Beaten a Workingman, Disney snow White, Captain America Bridget Jones,
like the Run has not just been a very successful
and well timed release, but a lot of Hollywood heavyweights
have been bested week to.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Week, and I think deservingly so.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
I reckon too, it's probably going to come to an end.
Though the Minecraft movie has opened internationally, this is doing
enormous box office in the US. It has tracking even
bigger than people thought it would be, So.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I think going into the school holidays it'll do. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
I think we all know the power of Minecraft on
children and the accompanying pester power that that could create.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Well put. Look, you mentioned a while back that Firefest
too is going to happen. Is it still on track?
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Yeah, well that's a good question. So Billy McFarland, who's
the you can't see my air quotes because it's radio,
but air quotes genius behind Firefest. Back in twenty seventeen
did jail Time. This was the festival that was on
a beautiful island with a great lineup, and people turned
up and couldn't even have food, so it was a
(04:10):
huge disaster. But he has been promising to stage a
makeup event to help clean up his own image, but
also to help repay the twenty six million dollars that
he owes in restitution for the first event. But what's
the most recent development here is he's having a public
argument with Mexican government officials after they announced the event
(04:33):
wasn't happening, and so they're kind of having this slight
sort of tit for tat post for post. So mcfarlin's
now issued a statement of his own and put out
a whole bunch of documents and emails that he says
proves the event's happening. There's still no lineup announced because
that's just the way this event rolls. I think it
wouldn't be a mistake to think that people would be
(04:53):
curious to go to a fire festival too. But if
you were thinking about it, you might want to sort
of just do a bit of research. Check out these
most recent news reports.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Oh look, it's just a great story. I mean, it
was the film Fire, which I think is on Netflix.
Isn't it the greatest Party that never happened? If it
is worth a watch, it is just a great entertainment story,
and it just is the story that keeps on giving.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Yeah, totally. And you know, in a market like ours,
we've seen festivals falling over here through you know, not
as overtly fraudulent activities, and maybe not fraudulently at or
but you can see how the impact on a lot
of ticket buyers can hurt. It's kind of nice to
watch an absurd version of this and I guess sort
of see why some of the policies and rules we
(05:36):
have a place around ticketing are there for a reason.
Speaking of ticketing, though, just in case you are thinking
about going to Fire Festival, these are US dollar prices.
They're just running through some of the pricing. Tickets for
five Fest two start at fourteen hundred dollars apiece for
a four day pass that doesn't include airfairs or hotel
and goes twenty five thousand dollars for artist passes, which
(05:56):
I presume means you get to hang out backstage with
all the artists to her supposedly playing and on the
high end that wasn't the high end. On the high end,
you can also purchase a one million dollar package for
eight people that has luxury villas, a private marina with
high end yachts, and a private jet.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
I think I'll give it a miss steep.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
All right, Well, you won't be one of the seven
people I take on the one million dollar package to
fire House.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
If you do and you no come back to.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Me on that, you're great, okay, Just I think bring
your own sandwich.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Thank you so much, Steve.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to news Talks it'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from news Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And we're starting our entertainment segment today with a little
bit of emm because Slim Shady is officially a grandpa.
So his daughter, Hayley Jade took to Instagram just this
morning to announce the arrival of her baby boy. She's
a podcaster and Infesta. She posted two photos of her baby,
(00:33):
born on March fourteenth, and a little knitted outfit which
is very cute, although it just makes me feel a
bit old thinking that Eminem is now a grandfather. Steve
Neil from editor at Flex dot cot and Z joins me.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Now, good morning, good morning, I join your hearty. Congratulations
Yes to mister m.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
There we go, Hey, new film at the box office.
It's called A Working Man. Stars Jason Statham doing what
he does best.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Exactly, having a job is what he does best. Statham's
been a mechanic, he's been a farmer, he's been a beekeeper,
he's been a diver, a driver, a transporter, many talents
as a construction worker, but it's Jason Stathams So he's
a construction worker with a.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Secret bast that's correct. That involves being very good at
fighting his way out of any situation, and in this
particular case, he has to go on the hunt for
his the family that he works for, the daughter is kidnapped,
and he decides doesn't need to try and help them out.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Absolutely so. His last film for director David Ayer, The Beekeeper,
which was a real treat of twenty twenty four, like
a big, silly, preposterous action film. The villains there were
scammers and fishers, like the sort of guys that try
and rip you off down the farn or on the computer,
(01:57):
and here they are human traffickers. So it's really just
kind of ticking off the different distinct groups of baddies.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Along with that, he's quite different films when it comes
to the enjoyment factor, I would.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Suggest, and for some audiences still Sylvester Stallone's Fingerprints will
be a good thing. It's probably to the detriment of
this film. He bought the novel this is based on
and developed it. You can probably sense that it could
be a Sylvesta Stallone film. The idea of this construction
worker with a heart of gold, with a strong moral
code who dusts off his long has long absent past
(02:35):
to become an action guy. Some of the sort of
moralizing this film is very sly, but the main reason
I bring it up actually is that this makes Statham
the most recent victim of local drama. TINR which has
been just continues to have seen off competition at the
box office week after week after week since it opened,
currently sitting number six on the all time list of
(02:56):
highest grossing films, having overtaken so On His Wedding, Tina's
Beaten a Workingman, Disney snow White, Captain America Bridget Jones,
like the Run has not just been a very successful
and well timed release, but a lot of Hollywood heavyweights
have been bested week to.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Week, and I think deservingly so.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
I reckon too, it's probably going to come to an end.
Though the Minecraft movie has opened internationally, this is doing
enormous box office in the US. It has tracking even
bigger than people thought it would be, So.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I think going into the school holidays it'll do. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
I think we all know the power of Minecraft on
children and the accompanying pester power that that could create.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Well put. Look, you mentioned a while back that Firefest
too is going to happen. Is it still on track?
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Yeah, well that's a good question. So Billy McFarland, who's
the you can't see my air quotes because it's radio,
but air quotes genius behind Firefest. Back in twenty seventeen
did jail Time. This was the festival that was on
a beautiful island with a great lineup, and people turned
up and couldn't even have food, so it was a
(04:10):
huge disaster. But he has been promising to stage a
makeup event to help clean up his own image, but
also to help repay the twenty six million dollars that
he owes in restitution for the first event. But what's
the most recent development here is he's having a public
argument with Mexican government officials after they announced the event
(04:33):
wasn't happening, and so they're kind of having this slight
sort of tit for tat post for post. So mcfarlin's
now issued a statement of his own and put out
a whole bunch of documents and emails that he says
proves the event's happening. There's still no lineup announced because
that's just the way this event rolls. I think it
wouldn't be a mistake to think that people would be
(04:53):
curious to go to a fire festival too. But if
you were thinking about it, you might want to sort
of just do a bit of research. Check out these
most recent news reports.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Oh look, it's just a great story. I mean, it
was the film Fire, which I think is on Netflix.
Isn't it the greatest Party that never happened? If it
is worth a watch, it is just a great entertainment story,
and it just is the story that keeps on giving.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Yeah, totally. And you know, in a market like ours,
we've seen festivals falling over here through you know, not
as overtly fraudulent activities, and maybe not fraudulently at or
but you can see how the impact on a lot
of ticket buyers can hurt. It's kind of nice to
watch an absurd version of this and I guess sort
of see why some of the policies and rules we
(05:36):
have a place around ticketing are there for a reason.
Speaking of ticketing, though, just in case you are thinking
about going to Fire Festival, these are US dollar prices.
They're just running through some of the pricing. Tickets for
five Fest two start at fourteen hundred dollars apiece for
a four day pass that doesn't include airfairs or hotel
and goes twenty five thousand dollars for artist passes, which
(05:56):
I presume means you get to hang out backstage with
all the artists to her supposedly playing and on the
high end that wasn't the high end. On the high end,
you can also purchase a one million dollar package for
eight people that has luxury villas, a private marina with
high end yachts, and a private jet.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
I think I'll give it a miss steep.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
All right, Well, you won't be one of the seven
people I take on the one million dollar package to
fire House.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
If you do and you no come back to.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Me on that, you're great, okay, Just I think bring
your own sandwich.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Thank you so much, Steve.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to news Talks it'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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