2009 Virgin Mobile Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion August 30
Blink-182
A corporate-sponsored music festival, a CEO patting himself on the back, Blink-182 as a headlining act: it’s a magical trinity of music industry bullshit that should send the blogosphere’s snarkometer into overdrive. Then Virgin Mobile USA had to go ahead and ruin all the fun for every blogger licking his or her chops by, well…being decent. That’s right: This year’s Virgin Mobile Festival—to be held Aug. 30 at Merriweather Post Pavilion—will be free of charge. Not “free IF you sign up for a two-year plan with Virgin Mobile” or “free IF you purchase the ‘Unlimited Texter’s Delight Plan’ for only an additional $19.99 a month.” But straight-up free.
“Instead of focusing on layoffs or the state of the economy, we want to focus on concrete ways to provide assistance to those in need,” says Dan Schulman, CEO of Virgin Mobile USA, in a press release. “People need outlets to both lend a helping hand and to escape and relax, for free, even if just for one day. We want to throw some good news in the mix.” Hey, thanks Dan.
Sure, there are some strings attached. Current Virgin Mobile customers and previous Virgin Mobile Festival ticket buyers get to be first in line for the 35,000 tickets to be made available via a private email “free-sale” this Thursday and Friday. The rest of the tickets to the 2009 Virgin Mobile “FreeFest” will become available to the public at 10 a.m. EST on Saturday, June 27th, through Ticketmaster’s website. And get this: if you put in 13 hours of community service at one of Virgin Mobile's designated homeless youth shelters around the country, you get special VIP seating. The company even goes as far as to encourage cell phone users, “regardless of wireless carrier, to text ‘FREEFEST’ to 20222, with a $5 donation which will go to select youth homeless centers around the country.” Well, would you look at all that giving back?
Hell, even Ticketmaster is getting in on the good will: the surcharge-happy ticket distributor is waiving the parking/venue fee altogether; the convenience charge, meanwhile, is free if you pick up your tickets at Merriweather or 9:30 Club. Of course, if you want your tickets delivered, you’ll still have to pay the extra charge. (Oh, Ticketmaster—you just can’t help yourself, can you?)
The 2009 Virgin Mobile FreeFest include Blink-182, Weezer, Franz Ferdinand, Public Enemy, Jet, The National, Girl Talk, The Bravery, The Hold Steady, St. Vincent, Wale, Mates Of State, and Taking Back Sunday. Dance tent acts include Holy Fuck, Pete Tong, Danny Howells, and Lee Burridge. That's a lineup that would probably sell out even if it wasn't free—so make sure you set your alarm nice and early on Saturday morning.
