Update: Virgin Mobile Festival ‘09 is a go!
Earlier today, we noted of what looked to be the impending cancellation of this year’s Virgin Mobile Festival. However, just a few hours later, Jayne Wallace, director of corporate communications for Virgin Mobile, has revealed to the Baltimore Sun that the Baltimore based music festival is in fact scheduled to return this summer. “Nothing in life is definite…But for all intents and purposes, we fully expect to hold another festival. We have some exciting ideas we’re looking at,” Wallace explained.
No additional details were given, such as dates, or where Virgin Fest would be taking place - there is some speculation that Pimlico, the festival’s current venue, may be demolished in the coming months. As a result, according to the Baltimore Business Journal, the festival may be eying a move to to Columbia, Maryland’s 17,000-seat Merriweather Post Pavilion.
As for possible acts for this year’s bill? As reader Tom G pointed, there is some speculation that Metallica could be a possibility. It’s probably safe to say Coldplay, the Beastie Boys, and some Virgin-approved acts like Muse and Franz Ferdinand are others potential acts given their appearance/likely appearance at other U.S. festivals in early August, all of which is contingent of course on Virgin Festival actually taking place in its usual early August slot.
As always, we’ll keep you updated…
MUTEMATH, MUSE and INCUBUS .. need I say more?
I hope it happens!
From Virgin website here http://music.virgin.com/festivals/ it says the Baltimore fest is at Pimlico and the venue for Vancouver one is still TBA. Sooo if it wasn’t at Pimlico I would think it would still say TBA
sorry forgot the link in the last post
From Virgin website here it says the Baltimore fest is at Pimlico and the venue for Vancouver one is still TBA. Sooo if it wasn’t at Pimlico I would think it would still say TBA
I too bought tickets for Lollapalooza this year..$190 for 3 days of music is very comparable for what I spent on two days at Pimlico that past 3 years..and with no lineup or even a web update, this looks to be the best bet for a summer concert.
The past few years they had pretty much everything finalized the the end of may. Here we are at the end of May and we still don’t know if it is still going to be in Baltimore. I would like to see maybe different dates as 100 degrees and all those people is hot! If it gets moved to NY, I don’t think that we will be going. I would be nice if they would let us know something so that people can plan, especially since we are in a recession and people have to save:)
they announced 2 of the 5 virgin festival for canada and they both blow.
let’s hope MD gets something decent cos’ they’ve already screwed toronto by moving the festival to the backwoods of no mansland.
Could they have dropped the ball on this any more? I decided to go to lollapalooza instead. I guess they figure people don’t make plans for the summer. I don’t think it’s even going to happen at this point.
pimlico was great all years it should still be first pic if not possible the state faifgrounds would also be great meriweather
not so much in any case we want this fest bad ………..peace se ya there
So what’s the deal with Virgin Mobile Music Festival 2009? If it’s a go, they need to finalize acts, dates, times, etc. so people can start making plans. August will be here before we know it!
RFK might be a good place. It’s not Baltimore, but it’s a fairly large venue, not as big as Pimlico, I don’t think but there should at least be the room for three stages.
Virgin Fest wouldn’t be same if they tried to squeeze it into Merriweather…. I’m so glad they’re doing Virgin Fest, I was afraid that it was canceled because of the 40th anniversary of Woodstock being around the same time that they usually do Virgin Fest.
merriweather already helped kill hfstival
marriweather would not be good at all
The Virgin Festival will be NO fun at all in Merriweather.
It is too small. It is not a good venue anyway. Festivals do not work there.
I live for this every year! Please don’t move to Merriweather!
TRUST!
Muse…headliner..case closed..simply the best act in the world
Thanks for the props Lenny. It takes a big man.
I guess i just argued the point cause i’m actually mad at Richard Branson and his sheer negligence of others anticipation of his festivals. So I should not have made any beef with you.
Another thing that pisses me off about Branson is when he did finally announce the fest in Calgary last year it was a major let down seeing as “he said” that he was letting the fans schedual it, which was a total farce cause 90% of the bands that were @ V-Fest Calgary last year were bands that had all been through town in the last 9 months. I know the “Schedual your own Band” festival is a total lie. But dont make the citizens of Calgary look like fools, they do that enough on their own. (i.e. Calgary Stampede)
My final point being, the real reason Branson brought V-Fest to Calgary was to butter up the city and province so he could dip his greedy little hands into the “Tar Sands” up north. Now that he and others see there’s not enough $ coming out of said Tar Sands he will not bring the Fest back. Just would kinda be nice to let people know so they can buy tickets to a real music festival like Sled Island (???????? where are the rumours) or Sasquatch.
I feel sorry for people who work the V-Fest schedualing division. That’s gotta be one shitty job. Its like being a bouncer or a parking meter maid.
From what I heard the Brawn deal gives him the right (starting next year) to the paint job, including leasing out sponsor space to other sponsors, so in that respect you’re right :^P
But back on topic, whenabouts was the Baltimore announcement? I seem to recall them usually being around mid-June…
Yeah that shit aint happening.
Bobby, the Virgin Calgary lineup was supposed to come out in January last year. They only released it in April because they ran into a lot of unexpected problems. I don’t see why they would release it this late again.
I will say this. Virgin Calgary lineup was announced on April 9th last year. So that would make the announcement coming this Wednesday if they keep the same timetable?
Hey Lenny, I’m gonna argue this one. Yes he did buy into Braun racing but he’s not even one of the major investors. As we all know he’s one savy business man, and if it doesn’t make money he won’t invest in it, hence this excerpt from Autosport.com
“I’ve been quite fortunate in that I have done ballooning and boating, and done quite a lot of sporting activities, and it hasn’t cost any money as I always got someone else to sponsor it. So I am a bit of a cheapskate when it comes to these things, and make everything pay its way. ”
Nuff said
Considering Branson just inked a big sponsorship deal with a Formula 1 team, one thing’s for sure–they’re not exactly hurting for money…
still no word north of the boarder. My question is, you think Virgin may be feeling the internet pressure? I’ve never seen the likes but i got about 200 of my friends to email withion the past 2 days “what up with your fest? were spending our dough elsewhere”. Id like to think that an internet community can make a multi national conglomerate squeem a bit.
I’ve always known the Virgin Fest announcements to be kinda late in the making–that’s what made the first one so seat-of-the-pants to plan for a 7 hour road trip, and so damn worth it.
Aug 30th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
[...] Update: Virgin Mobile Festival ‘09 is a go! [...]
Jun 23rd, 2009 at 3:49 pm
[...] As rumored, the Virgin Mobile Festival, which has previously featured such acts as The Police, Smashing Pumpkins, The Who, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Foo Fighters, has indeed been downsized and moved to a new location. This year’s edition will take place on August 30th at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. A lineup announcement – Blink 182 and Weezer are among the rumors – as well as ticket information will be announced tomorrow on DC 101’s Elliot In The Morning. [...]
Jun 23rd, 2009 at 1:48 pm
[...] As rumored, the Virgin Mobile Festival, which has previously featured such acts as The Police, Smashing Pumpkins, The Who, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Foo Fighters, has indeed been downsized and moved to a new location. This year’s edition will take place on August 30th at the Merriweather Post Pavilion. A lineup announcement - Blink 182 and Weezer are among the rumors, as well as ticket information will be announced tomorrow on DC 101’s Elliot In The Morning. Share this story!: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
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[...] the Richard Branson fan club. First, news came that Baltimore’s Virgin Mobile Festival would indeed be returning this year. Then, earlier this week, Virgin Festival Calgary announced similar plans. And now, Virgin Festival [...]
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[...] on the heels of news that the U.S. Virgin Mobile Festival will return this year - though where is still TBD, comes a report in today’s Calgary Sun that the same can now be [...]