Finding a barren, abandoned landscape was the last thing that excited concert-goers were expecting. In fact, one would expect five-star treatment for people who paid as much as $12,000 on tickets to watch their favorite musicians perform at Fyre Festival on Bahama’s Great Exuma island.

Fyre Festival was new in the business of extravagant concerts, and promised ticket buyers excellent treatment, including beach yoga, the best food, and a treasure hunt with prizes that added up to $1 million and more. Fyre Festival was supposed to run from April 28-30 and May 5-7 if everything had gone according to plan.

Musicians such as G.O.O.D. Music, Major Lazer, Blink 182, Disclosure, Migos, and many more were expected to perform. Models and rappers promoted the event, making Fyre Festival seem like the ultimate concert.

Trouble began on Thursday, April 27 when people started flying into the island. The first-year staff was immediately overwhelmed and could only supply meager tents and dried bread with cheese.

Fyre Festival staff quickly realized that things were falling apart and cancelled all incoming flights to the venue.

People stuck on the island began sharing their misfortune online, and news of the situation quickly spread throughout social media. Many people commented on how this was karma for frivolous spending and laughed it off.

Freshman Kayla Acevedo says, “I just think this is really funny. The rich people are silly for spending so much money on a total failure.”

Things got worse for the already disappointed crowd when performers heard of the terrible conditions at the island venue and began dropping out. Blink 182, one of the bands that many were looking forward to, backed out from the show before all of the mayhem commenced and tweeted a picture saying, “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 our fans.”

Many of the people at Fyre Fest described the whole debacle being similar to “The Hunger Games,” as people were frantically looking for food, a place to sleep, and a way to escape the venue.

Things could not get worse for those stranded on the island, so a huge rush for flights back home commenced. Bahamian airports had a difficult time sending the masses back home, but with hard work, everyone returned home safely.

Fyre Festival shared an official apology to everyone who bought tickets and promised not only a full refund, but free VIP tickets to their event next year as well.

Freshman Toluwalope Agunbiade says, “I hope everyone gets their money back. This entire situation is crazy and unfair.”

Fyre Festival hosts Billy McFarland and Ja Rule also gave a sincere apology, describing how they had severely underestimated the work required for such an event and their hopes to start concert preparations earlier next year to prevent another disaster like this.

However, many refuse to accept this apology and blame America’s obsession with festivals and pricey concerts. Prices soar each year at concerts like Coachella and expectations only grow higher, so something had to go wrong eventually. Fyre Festival is what some would describe as a ‘wake-up call,’ and people are finally realizing that paying so much money for concerts that could go wrong in so many ways is irrational.

Concerts like Fyre Festival are no longer fun, but instead are used for people to flaunt their money to everyone. People nationwide found it difficult to sympathize with those who attended Fyre Festival because they were most likely attending to impress others and were drawn in by the unrealistic activities and privileges that were offered for a huge sum of money. Instead of pitying those on the island, people made countless memes online to poke fun at them.

The Fyre Festival fiasco is complex, and it is difficult to find one person to outright blame. Hopefully, event staff in the future take the proper precautions so another Fyre Festival-like disaster does not occur.

Do you feel bad for those who were stuck at Fyre Fest? Who do you think is to blame for the disaster?