Virgin Mobile Festival Announces Foo Fighters, Jack Johnson, Kanye West, Nine Inch Nails, Stone Temple Pilots as Weekend Headliners

Virgin Mobile Festival Announces Foo Fighters, Jack Johnson, Kanye West, Nine Inch Nails, Stone Temple Pilots as Weekend Headliners

August 9-10, 2008 at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, MD

LAS VEGAS, April 1, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- Virgin Group Founder and Chairman Sir Richard Branson announced today the headline acts for the third Virgin Mobile Festival, the largest music and arts festival on the East Coast, being held August 9-10 at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. The festival headliners are Foo Fighters, Jack Johnson, Kanye West, Nine Inch Nails and Stone Temple Pilots. The Virgin Mobile Festival is being produced for the third year by I.M.P., one of the country's leading independent concert promoters. Fans can check out the official festival website at http://www.virginmobilefestival.com/ to sign up for news and updates.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080222/NYF040LOGO)

Branson announced the headliners during a keynote at the 2008 CTIA Wireless convention in Las Vegas. He said the rest of the diverse two-day lineup and additional information about the Festival will be announced in the coming weeks. Ticket sale information will also be available in the coming weeks at http://www.ticketmaster.com/.

"I couldn't be more excited about the third U.S. festival this summer. In addition to bringing out stellar artists, last year's event was one of the largest 'green' music festivals in the States," said Branson, whose legendary Virgin Festival heritage is the inspiration behind the Virgin Mobile Festival. "Our efforts continue to reflect Virgin Group's passionate commitment to fight climate change and minimize carbon emissions. Virgin Mobile USA will again host a wonderfully eco-friendly event that's light on carbon impact but heavy on the rock and roll."

"Hosting this festival has always been an incredible experience for us, our employees, our customers, our partners and of course, all of those who attended," said Dan Schulman, CEO of Virgin Mobile USA. "As the list of bands, DJs and performance artists continues to grow, it's clear that this year's experience will be just as amazing. With two full days of music presented along with the extraordinarily fun and very 'Virgin' vibe, Virgin Mobile Festival will be the outdoor concert event of the summer."

Kyocera Wireless will again be the handset partner and premiere sponsor of Virgin Mobile Festival. In Vegas, Branson also debuted Virgin Mobile USA's "Virgin Mobile Festival Special Edition Wild Card" handset from Kyocera, which will be available exclusively at Best Buy as the summer kicks off. Fans who purchase the phone will receive festival-inspired content as well as other additional benefits.

"When the rest of the artists are announced, everyone will see that we have remained true to form in our quest to provide nothing but the very best bands in the world from the start of the day through the final notes," said Seth Hurwitz, Chairman of I.M.P. "People have come to rely on us for this, and this year's Virgin Mobile Festival will feature the most solid and exciting lineup ever."

About Virgin Mobile USA, Inc.

Virgin Mobile USA (NYSE:VM) offers more than five million customers control, flexibility and choice through monthly plans without annual contracts, with national coverage powered by the nationwide Sprint PCS network. Virgin Mobile USA's full slate of smart, stylish and affordable handsets, including the Wild Card, Super Slice and Flare, are available at top retailers in approximately 40,000 locations nationwide and online at http://www.virginmobileusa.com/, with Top-Up cards available at more than 140,000 locations.

J.D. Power and Associates ranked Virgin Mobile USA highest in customer satisfaction among wireless prepaid services in both 2006 and 2007, and its customers report a 90% satisfaction rate. Virgin Mobile USA contributes a portion of profits from downloadable content to The RE*Generation, its pro- social initiative to help homeless youth, and provides postage-paid return envelopes in every new package for customers to recycle old phones.

About I.M.P.

Formed in 1980, I.M.P. is a Bethesda, Md.-based concert promoter and event production company. In addition to launching the Virgin Mobile Festival in the U.S., the principals at I.M.P. own Washington DC's legendary 9:30 Club, named Club of the Year by Billboard and Pollstar, renowned as the premier place to see and hear cutting edge live music of all varieties. I.M.P. also programs and operates Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md. Over the last 28 years, I.M.P. and the 9:30 Club have put on nearly 10,000 events, hosting millions of music fans.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact: mconnerton@cooperkatz.com

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080222/NYF040LOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com

Source: Virgin Mobile USA, Inc.

CONTACT: Jayne Wallace, +1-908-607-4014,
Jayne.wallace@virginmobileusa.com, or Corinne Nosal, +1-908-607-4235,
Corinne.nosal@virginmobileusa.com, both of Virgin Mobile USA; or Audrey Fix
Schaefer of Schaefer + Co. for I.M.P., +1-301-947-1133, Audrey@schaefer.com;
or Alysa McKenna of CooperKatz for Virgin Mobile USA, +1-917-595-3048,
amckenna@cooperkatz.com

Web site: http://www.virginmobileusa.com/
http://www.virginmobilefestival.com/
http://www.ticketmaster.com/

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Profile: International Entertainment