PHOTOS: Why I’m Breaking Up with The Brooklyn Mirage

After several days of what now feels like social media trolling, The Brooklyn Mirage fails again. Photos from last night show why we should all feel misled.

Listen, Avant Gardner, it’s not me — it’s you. The brand, which owns The Brooklyn Mirage and Electric Zoo, has now fooled its fans way more than twice, and this time it really stings.

Anyone familiar with the EZOO 2023 debacle is undoubtedly experiencing déjà vu. Mirage canceled its much hyped, and overpromised, Brooklyn Mirage 4.0 opening only a few hours before showtime. The cancellation on its own could be forgiven, but this follows a pattern of disinformation, marketing puffery, and — honestly — gaslighting its fans to the point where it’s impossible to trust anything from the brand.

The announcement opens with, “We’ve been extraordinarily transparent along every step of our Brooklyn Mirage rebuild — showing long hours, the progress, and the passion behind it all.” In a world where social media apology posts are all too common, this opening line really takes the cake. Considering the history here, it feels like this is being delivered to an abused partner as a way to convince them to stay.

The condition of The Artist’s Village

The condition of The Artist’s Village

The cancellation announcement came way too late and was truly dishonest.

“We’ve been incredibly transparent” is simply not true. Only when the social media uproar calling out lack of progress about a week before opening hit a fever pitch did Mirage management start sharing updates.

Even the renovation design announcement to the press was delayed several weeks. Then, just two days before opening, they shared a tongue-in-cheek reopening teaser that will certainly not age well. Instead of speaking with humility and honesty that the opening was down to the wire, they chose to insult fans and make fun of all the concerns we’ve had for the last few years. Considering that these concerns include not one, but two patron deaths (albeit outside the venue), and the overall safety of attendees, you’d think management would be more sensitive in its approach.

I personally sat down with Josh Wyatt, the new CEO, in January, and I wrote that he said all the right things. I, along with many Mirage fans, gave him the benefit of the doubt and agreed to trust him on this journey toward redemption.

Yet he and the entire Avant Gardner brand objectively squandered that trust and insulted each and every one of us. In the cancellation announcement, they painstakingly state that the venue was “show ready” but inspectors wouldn’t allow them to open, as if the inspection was a surprise.

Management isn’t only responsible for the build. They are responsible for testing, permits, inspection, compliance, and a host of other details. Any attempt to pass blame on city inspectors is entirely disingenuous.

Upper floor with plywood cutouts and hanging wire

If it walks like a Fyre Festival and it quacks like a Fyre Festival, it’s probably a Fyre Festival.

Not only are inspections part of responsible venue management, but this is precisely what happened on the first day of EZoo in 2023. Was nothing learned from that failure?

When it was announced that the Fyre Festival brand was for sale after the second festival attempt was scuttled, I joked that Avant Gardner should buy it and relaunch EZoo as “EZoo on Fyre.” That joke will likely age as well as the aforementioned sarcastic and insulting teaser video. In all seriousness, anyone who trusts Avant Gardner or Brooklyn Mirage at this point is as much a fool as those who thought Fyre Festival 2 was a good idea. Buyer beware.

Right about now is where I’d typically say, “in their defense” or “to be completely objective,” but I’m having trouble finding anything to write in this vein. This is a brand that has not been transparent with patrons and would often seemingly mislead until they felt they had no choice but to speak up.

Incomplete bar with construction sheathing

During the week leading up to this cancellation, fans were told that social media posts doubting whether the venue could open were misleading.

Avant Gardner posted several updates over the last week, each a professionally polished, high-production-value video, some including CEO Josh Wyatt. We were told that the photos and videos casting doubt didn’t tell the full story. Yet here we are and the doubters were absolutely correct.

All the photos and the video included in this article were taken by me at around 10pm opening night, about two hours after the venue would have opened. It undoubtedly looks close to being ready, but also definitely not “ready — all systems go!”

I’m not sure what “the venue is show ready” means to Avant Gardner, but I can tell you this: fans deserve better. I guess the venue is truly living up to its name since everything seems to be a mirage. And all of this is why I’m breaking up with The Brooklyn Mirage.

I leave you with this video showing the state of the venue, where they were playing “I’m In The Mood” by Robert Plant. He sings, “I’m in the mood for a melody,” and I can assure you, so were we.