WARREN, N.J. (BUSINESS WIRE), July 11, 2011 -
Founder of Virgin Group, Sir Richard Branson, along with select
Virgin Mobile Live Facebook friends, unveiled the date and lineup for
the Virgin
Mobile FreeFest presented by Kyocera. The Billboard award-winning
festival, known for breaking from traditional music
events, delivered the message via a video posted on Virgin
Mobile Live’s Facebook page. This year it will be free again, and
the festival will feature some of the most relevant, important and
eclectic artists filling two Main Stages and the Dance Forest.
Virgin Mobile FreeFest will be held Saturday, Sept. 10, at Merriweather
Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md. The lineup on the Main Stages includes
The Black Keys, Deadmau5, Cee Lo Green, TV on the Radio, Patti Smith,
Empire of the Sun, Cut Copy, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, Okkervil
River, Big Sean, Two Door Cinema Club, Alberta Cross, and Bombay Bicycle
Club. The Dance Forest will feature James Murphy, Calvin Harris,
Ghostland Observatory, !!!, Porter Robinson, Eclectic Method, and
Teddybears.
"It's so much fun to be a part of this," said Seth Hurwitz, chairman of
I.M.P. and Virgin Mobile FreeFest producer. "As a promoter, I enjoy
watching 40,000 people walking around, having a blast, feeling very
lucky they got a free ticket...it's my favorite day of the year. There
are a lot of bands vying to play this festival, but, because we give all
the tickets away, we get to choose based on nothing but who we think are
the most happening. I suppose it's a bratty approach, but we just want
people to see this festival as THE list of the absolute coolest bands
and stories of the moment.”
Tickets to the 2011 Virgin Mobile FreeFest will go “On Free” to the
public at 10 a.m. (EDT) Friday, July 15, via Virgin Mobile LIVE on
facebook.com/virginmobilelive. Fans must first “like” Virgin Mobile Live
before they are eligible to secure free tickets. Virgin
Mobile customers and Virgin Mobile Festival ticket holders from the
past five years will be invited via text and email to a private
“free-sale” (much like a pre-sale, except free) to be held at 10 a.m.
(EDT) Thursday, July 14, also at facebook.com/virginmobilelive.
"This free festival represents everything our brand stands for," said
Ron Faris, director of Brand Marketing for Virgin Mobile USA. "We’re
very proud of our deeply engaged fans who donate their time and money to
youth homelessness through this concert. During the last two FreeFests,
nearly $300,000 has been raised, and volunteers have given more than
55,000 hours of their time to the cause. This festival is dedicated to
them. Giving away free tickets to our most loyal fans on our Virgin
Mobile Live Facebook page is an absolute pleasure."
The Virgin Mobile youth homelessness initiative is the focus of The RE*Generation
project, the pro-social effort by Virgin Mobile USA dedicated to raising
awareness of the plight of at-risk and homeless youth.
Kyocera
Wireless will be presenting the festival for its sixth year and will
be showcasing new and innovative ways to express its enterprise-wide
greening initiative on the festival grounds. Headquartered in Kyoto,
Japan, Kyocera will also be following Virgin’s philanthropic lead by
collecting donations on site to aide in the recovery effort from this
year’s devastating earthquake and tsunami.
During the last two years, Virgin Mobile FreeFest’s tens of thousands of
tickets were scooped up in just minutes. Replacing the VIP ticket this
year will be a limited number of FreeFest Premium Ticket Packages, which
include admission to the festival, a FreeFest T-shirt and poster, a
souvenir cup that comes with discounts on drinks, and early admission to
the grounds. These limited special packages will be available via
merriweathermusic.com or ticketfly.com. In keeping with the “free”
mantra, Ticketfly
is waiving all service charges on free tickets when fans pick up their
FreeFest tickets at Merriweather or the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.,
or print their tickets at home.
ABOUT VIRGIN MOBILE USA
Virgin Mobile USA, one of Sprint's
prepaid brands, offers millions of customers control, flexibility and
connectivity through Virgin Mobile's Beyond Talk™ No Contract plans for
mobile phone service and prepaid Broadband2Go
high-speed Web access. Virgin Mobile branded devices are available at
more than 40,000 retail stores, including Target, Walmart, Best Buy and
RadioShack. Top-Up cards are available at approximately 150,000
locations nationwide and can be used for Assurance Wireless and
Broadband2Go services. Purchase and experience Virgin Mobile on the Web
and at Facebook,
Twitter,
You
Tube and www.virginmobileusa.com.