The Black Keys, Deadmau5, Cee Lo Green Lead Virgin Mobile FreeFest Bill

The Black Keys, Deadmau5, Cee Lo Green, TV on the Radio, Patti Smith, Empire of the Sun, and Cut Copy are among the acts booked for the third annual Virgin Mobile FreeFest, a free music festival set for Sept. 10 at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md.

Filling out the main stage bill are Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, Okkervil River, Big Sean, Two Door Cinema Club, Alberta Cross and Bombay Bicycle Club. The Dance Forrest area will feature James Murphy, Calvin Harris, Ghostland Observatory, !!!, Porter Robinson, Eclectic Method and Teddybears.

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Tickets to the 2011 Virgin Mobile FreeFest -- which is presented by Kyocera -- will be available to the public on July 15 through Virgin Mobile LIVE' Facebook page (facebook.com/VirginMobileLive). Fans must "like" the festival's Facebook page in order to be eligible for free tickets. Virgin Mobile customers and past Virgin Mobile FreeFest ticketholders will be invited via text and email to a private "free-sale" (much like a pre-sale, except free) to be held July 14 through Facebook.com/VirginMobileLive.

In addition, a limited number of FreeFest Premium Ticket Packages will be available via merriweathermusic.com or ticketfly.com. The $49.50 package includes admission to the festival, a FreeFest T-shirt and poster, a souvenir cup that comes with discounts on drinks, and early admission to the grounds.

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Ticketfly is waiving all service charges when fans pick up their FreeFest tickets at Merriweather or the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. or print their tickets at home.

The Virgin Mobile FreeFest is produced and promoted by D.C.-based promoter I.M.P. This will be the sixth year that Virgin has sponsored a music festival in the D.C. market, all produced by I.M.P., with the first three being pay fests at Baltimore's Pimlico Race Track.
       
"As a promoter, I enjoy watching 40,000 people walking around, having a blast, feeling very lucky they got a free ticket," I.M.P. chairman Seth Hurwitz said in a statement. "There are a lot of bands vying to play this festival, but because we give all the tickets away, we get to choose based on nothing but who we think are the most happening.  I suppose it's a bratty approach, but we just want people to see this festival as THE list of the absolute coolest bands and stories of the moment."

Past Virgin Mobile FreeFests have included such artists as Weezer, Blink-182, Franz Ferdinand, Public Enemy, M.I.A., LCD Soundsystem, Pavement, T.I. and Ludacris.