FreeFest concert tickets come with a price: Volunteerism

From USA Today:

By Korina Lopez, USA TODAY
The free tickets may already be snapped up for Virgin Mobile’s FreeFest, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still get in free.
You just have to work for it.

In an unusual charity-benefit twist, promoters for the day-long music festival Aug. 30 at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md., set aside 3,000 more tickets as rewards to fans willing to volunteer time for the homeless.

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Thirteen hours of service at select homeless organizations gets a VIP pass; eight hours earns general admission. (Volunteering details will be posted today on virginmobilefestival.com.) And those who already have tickets are being asked to donate $5.
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“Social giving is at an all-time low,” says Virgin Mobile USA’s Ron Faris. “There are 2 million young people out there ages 12 to 24 who are homeless. So we’re willing to eat the cost of a $100 ticket, if people can just donate $5 to help homeless youth organizations that have been decimated by this economy.”

Other concerts this recession-ravaged summer have looked for innovative and economical ways to fill seats. Rothbury and Bonnaroo festivals enticed fans with layaway plans. LiveNation offers four-packs (buy three tickets, get one free). No Doubt ticket buyers get free downloads.

But the 17-band concert, headlined by Weezer, Blink-182, Franz Ferdinand and Public Enemy, is one of the rare major music fests to go completely free.

“Free gets more publicity for Virgin and the bands,” says Pollstar editor in chief Gary Bongiovanni. “From the band’s perspective, Merriweather is a great place to play, the fans are appreciative of the free tickets, and that goodwill will transfer to the bands’ performances. And the charity component should be commended. Virgin didn’t have to add that.”

The 35,000 “free” tickets went “on sale” Saturday and disappeared immediately.

“The idea of a FreeFest that focuses on helping other people on such a massive scale, especially in this economy, is very ambitious,” Blink-182 singer Tom Delonge says. “My other band, Angels & Airwaves, did a thing in New York City where we had kids do community service to get into our show.”

“My fiancée worked in mental health for years, and homelessness can happen to anyone,” says Cam Muncey of Australian rock group JET. “Just because someone has hit a hard patch doesn’t mean they should be forgotten.”

Can music fans look forward to more free festivals? “This kind of gesture isn’t going to be replicated anytime soon,” Bongiovanni says. “After all, not many people can write a check that big except for (Virgin founder) Sir Richard Branson.”