Did the Revolve Festival Just Become Fyre Festival 2.0?
Beginning in 2015, the clothing company, Revolve, began to host an invitation-only party during the first weekend of Coachella Music Festival. The point is to have some of the thousands of celebrities that attend Coachella every year to be seen in Revolve clothing and to promote it in a fun and exciting setting.
The 2022 Revolve Festival took place on April 16th and 17th and the promised attractions at the event were spectacular including: pop-ups from sponsors such as 818 Tequila, La Croix, Erewhon, and performances from huge artists with two of the most notable being Jack Harlow and Post Malone.
However, things took a bit of a dangerous turn.
To the public eye, initially, all of the Instagram posts from celebrities made the Revolve Festival look like a dream with the carnival rides and the infamous revolve sign that was heavily photographed. However, many smaller influencers that had been invited took to TikTok to share some of the behind the scenes that were anything but a dream.
For example, Tik Tok creator, Averie Bishop (@averiebishop), explained how she didn’t even make it into the festival.
“I didn’t even make it into the festival because I had to wait in line for two plus hours,” Bishop mentioned in a Tik Tok video that she made in which she talked about her experience. “There was pushing, shoving, shouting, and people standing in between the buses while they were moving!”
Bishop continued on to say that she hopes next year Revolve will take into greater consideration everyone’s safety.
Another TikTok creator, Madison Crowley (@madisoncrowleyphoto), posted a TikTok capturing the hundreds of people running towards the buses and captioned it “Revolve X Fyre Fest,” comparing it to the 2017 music festival, Fyre Festival.
Fyre Festival was a luxury music festival that was created by a con artist, Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule in the Bahamas. Similarly to the Revolve Festival, top influencers, such as Kendall Jenner and Hailey Bieber, were invited.
Fyre Festival was not at all what it was said to be: the living quarters were tiny tents with soaked mattresses, hardly any food, and a festival that appeared to be a trucking site. Presently, there are two documentaries about the Fyre Festival and how dangerous it became.
What does this mean for Revolve?
Their event was compared to one of the biggest scams of all time, and figuring out a way to dig themselves out of this PR nightmare is quite the task.
Revolve issued an official apology stating how late on Saturday afternoon the festival was reaching capacity and that transportation was limited to adhere to safety measures. Also, they followed up by telling the public that they will do better as the safety of their guests is their main concern.
Next year’s Revolve Festival will determine if their apology truly means what they said.
Photo from Unsplash.