The skinny on the remaining Virgin Mobile FreeFest tickets
In case you're just tuning in, there are close to 3,000 tickets left to this year's Virgin Mobile FreeFest at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia. (Backstory here).
To get one of 2,400 general admission tickets, you have to volunteer for an act of community service -- giving blood, cleaning up parks, etc. -- through this Web site.
The initiative, called the Summer of Service, is being spearheaded by Howard County Executive Ken Ulman.
The sign-up for volunteering starts at noon Thursday. Volunteers must be 18 and older. In the coming weeks, the volunteering will be expanded to include other counties throughout the state.
But wait, there's more ...
Virgin Mobile is launching their own volunteering campaign in conjunction with the Summer of Service, called the Free I.P. (it's a play on V.I.P.).
Fans can sign up for 13 hours of volunteer work at a designated youth homeless center in trade for one V.I.P. pass to the festival. There are about 400 V.I.P spots up for grabs, according to Ron Faris, Virgin U.S.A.'s senior director of brand marketing an innovation.
Go here for more information.
I'd like to take a moment and put my two cents in here: This is a smart move by Ulman and Virgin Mobile. These tickets are a hot commodity right now, and I'm surprised they didn't hold onto more than just 3,000. Heck, they're going for as much as $695 on StubHub.
(Baltimore Sun by Patrick Smith)
I've been The Baltimore Sun's nightlife and local entertainment reporter for a couple years, and it's surprising how much the scene has grown in that time. Most of Baltimore's bars and clubs are unpretentious places with fairly cheap drinks and plenty of character. I like dancing and think this city needs more clubs, but nothing beats having a cold, locally brewed beer with friends in a comfortably full corner bar.
Comments
$695!?!?!?!?!?!
Posted by: TAR | June 30, 2009 3:31 PM
The $695 tickets won't sell.
The market isn't $695 for these ... the majority of the tickets on there are just under $100 a pop last I saw.
Posted by: JD | June 30, 2009 3:36 PM
under $100 or not. The scalpers who got the tickets got them for FREE.
Posted by: Annoyed | June 30, 2009 4:07 PM
This Summer of Service is really going to interfer with my current campaign for the Summer of George.
Posted by: JTK | June 30, 2009 4:55 PM
I wouldn't pay a dime for these tickets. Virign Mobile is such a weird brand i bet the concert will be weird also. They have a supposed trendy phone and a supposed low income phone, I wonder if there is a trendy part of the concert and a low income part as well.
Posted by: jay | July 22, 2009 9:37 AM
10$ for 120min with Virgn Jay, your nuts if you think thats a bad deal. I have Virgin moble pone would appreciate it if you didn't refer to the line as "WEIRD".
Posted by: vigin enthusiast | July 26, 2009 3:24 PM
Any updates on what the schedules for the bands are?
Posted by: sturmy | August 19, 2009 5:07 PM
Another option is to simply go on TicketMaster and buy 'em for $14 each (incl. service fee & print-at-home charge). They re-released a bunch of tix early this afternoon, and I just got mine at 4:30 pm.
But do the community service too...
Posted by: ColumbiaBill | August 29, 2009 4:33 PM