Virgin Mobile FreeFest! Hold Steady, Weezer, PE, GT

Virgin Mobile FreeFest!

Virgin Fest 2008 by Jurick

The 2009 Virgin Mobile Music Festival will now be a FREE event. Dubbed the Virgin Mobile “FreeFest,” the all day free event will be held on August 30 at the beautiful, 40 wooded acres of Merriweather Post Pavilion, in Columbia, Maryland. The grounds and facilities of Merriweather will be expanded to accommodate the multiple stage and dance tent set-up from prior Virgin Mobile Festivals.

Those scheduled to appear at this year’s FreeFest include Weezer, Blink-182, Franz Ferdinand, Public Enemy, Jet, The National, Girl Talk, The Bravery, The Hold Steady, St. Vincent, Wale, and Taking Back Sunday, as well as dance tent favorites that include Pete Tong, Danny Howells and Lee Burridge. The lineup of bands is now available at www.virginmobilefreefest.com.

The event is free, but fans still need to secure tickets through TicketMaster.com or at the local box office at Washington, D.C.’s 9:30 Club. There will be roughly 30,000 tickets released for the fest.

Organizers are asking fans to donate $5 to help youth homeless shelters by texting “FREEFEST” to 20222.

Check our coverage of the 2008 Virgin Mobile Fest here.