Updated May 03, 2017 07:49:40

A $US100 million ($133 million) lawsuit has been filed against the organisers of the ill-fated Fyre Festival, after their highly anticipated luxury island concert devolved into an event allegedly "closer to The Hunger Games … than Coachella".

Fyre Festival organisers had previously billed the event as a "once-in-a-lifetime" concert along the lines of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Southern California, relying on models such as Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid to heavily promote it as a glitzy destination.

People had already arrived in the Exuma islands in the Bahamas on Friday (local time) — paying up to $US12,000 for the luxury weekend that was to include performances by Blink-182, Disclosure and Major Lazer — when they received news the festival was cancelled and bands had pulled out beforehand.

Instead of the luxury facilities that were advertised in glamorous videos on Instagram, attendees found a half-built festival village with tents, wooden stalls and portable lavatories.

People vented their anger on Facebook and Twitter, and on Sunday (local time) in a Los Angeles court, plaintiff Daniel Jung filed a lawsuit against the festival and its organisers, claiming fraud, negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract and breach of covenant of good faith.

He sought class action status for the thousands of attendees who flew to the remote venue, seeking damages in excess of $US100 million on behalf of himself and "similarly-situated persons".

"Defendants promoted their 'Fyre Festival' as a posh, island-based music festival featuring 'first-class culinary experiences and a luxury atmosphere'," the complaint alleged.

"Instead, festival-goers were lured into what various media outlets have since labelled a 'complete disaster', 'mass chaos', and a 'post-apocalyptic nightmare'.

"The festival's lack of adequate food, water, shelter, and medical care created a dangerous and panicked situation among attendees — suddenly finding themselves stranded on a remote island without basic provisions — that was closer to The Hunger Games or Lord of the Flies than Coachella."

The suit, filed by law firm Geragos & Geragos, "will make sure to hold Fyre — and all those who recklessly and blindly promoted the festival — accountable to make sure all consumers receive 100 per cent reimbursement for travel, lodging, time off from work, and any other incidental and consequential damages", attorney Ben Meiselas alleged in a statement on Twitter.

The festival was organised by Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule, who later tweeted saying he was "heartbroken" at the failure of the event.

"I wanted this to be an amazing event. It was not a scam as everyone is reporting," the rapper said.

Refunds for the guests have been promised, and all will receive free VIP passes to next year's event, according to a statement on the festival's website.

"We apologise for what all of our guests and staff went through over the last 24 hours and will work tirelessly to make this right."

Fyre Festival have been contacted for comment.

Photo: Attendees arrived at the festival to find facilities that did not quite match with what they were expecting. (AP: Jake Strang)

The hype for Fyre Festival began months ago, marketed with slick videos on social media.

"I saw it on Instagram and booked it before the line-up was announced," said Mitch Purgason, a 25-year-old from Charlotte, North Carolina.

Like Mr Purgason, Jake Strang, 29, from Pittsburgh paid $US500 for a flight to the island from Miami, lodging and food.

"Everything made it look amazing," Mr Strang said.

The festival website was also enticing. It promised a treasure hunt of "exceptional proportions," with more than $US1 million in riches to be found. It also said the event would be held on a private island.

Mr Purgason said he was sceptical, but went ahead with the planned vacation anyway. "Worst case scenario, I figured, we're still in the Bahamas in a villa."

His first inkling that something was amiss came on Thursday morning.

Mr Purgason was on the first flight from Miami to Exuma and when they landed, organisers said the villas were not ready.

So they whisked the planeload of partygoers to a restaurant at a nearby resort. He noted it was not a private island at all.

Still, food and drink were free and plenty. Cute pigs and bikini-clad girls roamed the beach. There was a DJ.

"They actually treated us pretty well," he said. "The first three hours was dope."

Another festival goer, Jenna Conlin from California, said: "They were putting down bottles of tequila on every table in an attempt to make everybody happy."

Mr Strang flew in later Thursday and was not so lucky.

"When we arrived, it essentially looked like a construction site. It looked like they were trying to sell lots for homes," he said.

The festival goers were suddenly told by the promoter to find a tent, and waved his arm in a direction. But the tents had holes that had obviously allowed rain to come in because the beds were wet.

A few lucky patrons had been relocated to resorts. Most were left to find beds in the tents.

Attendees trying to catch flights to return home were stuck for hours waiting for planes.

The Bahamas Tourism Ministry had expected it to be one of the largest such events ever held in the island chain east of Florida.

"We are extremely disappointed in the way the events unfolded [on Friday] with the Fyre Festival," Bahamas tourism tweeted.

"Hundreds of visitors to Exuma were met with total disorganisation and chaos.

"The event organisers assured us that all measures were taken to ensure a safe and successful event but clearly they did not have the capacity to execute an event of this scale."

The festival's flop sparked a social media storm under the trending hashtag #FyreFestival.

ABC/wires

Topics: events, arts-and-entertainment, carnivals-and-festivals, community-and-society, social-media, bahamas

First posted May 02, 2017 14:30:10