Blink-182, Weezer, Public Enemy, The National head revamped Virgin Mobile FreeFest
It took a little extra time and a move down i95, but Virgin Mobile Festival has unveiled its 2009 plans, and as expected, the days of The Who and The Police gracing a crowd of 80,000 spanned across a dirt race track are gone, at least for now. To put it simply, the former two-day extravaganza has downsized. This year, Virgin Mobile will instead take place for just one day (August 30th) at the 35,000 capacity Merriweater Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. It will now just feature two stages as well as a dance tent. And perhaps, the biggest of all changes, it will have a new name, FreeFest, and will be, you guessed it, free to attend.
So, who do you get at such an event? Blink-182, Weezer, Public Enemy, The National, Jet and Franz Ferdinand will make up the 2009 bill, as will The Hold Steady, Girl Talk, St. Vincent, Wale, The Bravery, Mates of State, Taking Back Sunday, Holy Fuck, Pete Tong, Lee Burridge and Danny Howells.
Tickets to the event will be available to Virgin Mobile customers and previous V-Fest ticket-buyers beginning tomorrow via Ticketmaster.com. These folks will be invited via email to a private “free-sale” (much like a pre-sale, except free) to be held Thursday, June 25th and Friday, June 26th. The rest of the general public will have to wait until Saturday, June 27th. Everyone, however, will get in for free - and according the Washington Post, there won’t even be service fees. Ticketmaster is reportedly waiving its “convenience charges,” so long as the tickets are picked up in person at Merriweather or at the 9:30 club.
“In a time of economic challenges and daily sacrifices, we wanted to throw a fantastic party so people could let loose and have a great time — on us,” Virgin Group President Richard Branson said in a statement.
In lieu of admission, Virgin is asking attendees to make donations to homeless-youth agencies. Furthermore, ho complete 13 hours of community service at designated youth shelters will be given VIP tickets.
All additional details can be found at virginmobilefestival.com.
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The password is Fester you assholes
yep…went in 2007. NO word on presale/free-sale code. beat. anyone….?
Ok guys I still haven’t received email passcode. I went last year and still no email. I hear people have been getting theirs. Are they from ticketmaster or virgin?? Also I hear the passcodes are the same so somoene go ahead and post them and go to hell ken.
Francine, don’t try and sound smart when your not, “to” is to go some where, “Two” is a number as in between two places, so proofread before you cop an attitude and everone else, Blink is fun we all grew up with them, so stop hating, if you don’t like em, leave early.
Thanks for the update Alex! Do you know if TicketMaster will be sending out the email invites? Will they be just blanket sending out to anyone who purchased prior years through TM?
I hope W burns in hell. Next to George Burns.
W on Jun 24th, 2009 at 8:14 am
“Awesome I’m going to scalp the hell out of these tickets”
- - -
this makes you a huge douche bag!!!
Ok, I edited the piece, but here is the answer to the question about how Virgin Mobile members and previous VFest buyers will get first dibs:
“Virgin Mobile customers and previous Virgin Mobile Festival ticket buyers will be invited via email to a private “free-sale” (much like a pre-sale, except free) to be held Thursday, June 25th and Friday, June 26th.”
I would assume so. I can look into it…
So if I bought tickets to a previous V Fest I will be able to get my tickets tomorrow Alex?
I had no intention of going to this but I guess I might as well get tickets…Public Enemy and FF r good enough…
How are they doing to decide who gets pavilion seats and who gets lawn seats?
Well Francine, Pimlico is literally one minute from my house, so it could be more accessible for me if the fest was back at Pimlico…
and W, not that you’ll be the only one I’m sure but you’re scum of the earth…way to be in the spirit of a free fest…
Awesome I’m going to scalp the hell out of these tickets
Hey Zoie, Accessible? Merriweather is in between to Metropolitan areas: Baltimore and DC. How more accessible can it be - you’re back yard?
minus blink 182, it’s not a bad bill!
Do something free thats more accessible for people, jerks!
Jun 24th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
[...] on the show tonight? Sir. Richard Branson, who will announce the already announced Virgin Mobile FreeFest. Must-see T.V. to say the [...]
Jun 24th, 2009 at 10:31 am
[...] on the show tonight? Sir. Richard Branson, who will announce the already announced Virgin Mobile FreeFest. Must-see T.V. to say the least. Share this story!: These icons link to social bookmarking sites [...]