After all, 2009 was a pretty nasty piece of recessionary work for most Americans – especially for young people and acutely so for homeless youth. So the folks at Virgin Mobile stepped up to make the U.S. leg of their branded festival a free gig – providing party buses, a cross-country flight on Virgin America and generally made sure those who volunteered 13 hours of time at selected homeless shelters and programs were treated like rock royalty.
And we aren’t just taking the word of a press release for it. We were along for the ride – flying to Washington, D.C., from Los Angeles with a jet full of young people who’d volunteered their time to help the less fortunate to experience the event from their point of view.
The trunks are long since packed, the numbers crunched and with oodles of positive feedback rolling in since the Aug. 30 festival, publicist Audrey Schaefer has checked in to let us know that yes, they’re going to do it again. And, as before, the Virgin Mobile FreeFest will be curated and promoted by Seth Hurwitz and his team at I.M.P., who operate the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md., and the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
“I’ve been getting some calls lately – people asking what’s up with the Virgin Mobile Festival this year,” Schaefer told Pollstar. “Last year, we made the festival free because the economy was in a meltdown. But as it turns out, we stumbled upon something that was really important to fans.
You saw it for yourself – it was such a wickedly fun animal – and an amazing music experience that everyone loved. So, Virgin Mobile has found some pretty creative ways to keep it free again.”
The lineup is still being worked on and a date hasn’t been officially set, but it’s cool enough to know that the bash will be back this summer, again at Merriweather Post Pavilion and across three stages.