Communiqués de presse

Virgin Festival Toronto - The Rockstravaganza is Back!

Full Festival set times released

TORONTO (ONTARIO) 4 septembre 2007

Toronto, (Ontario) September 4, 2007 – This weekend, the hottest music event of the year is back for more. Virgin Mobile’s second annual Virgin Festival Toronto will bring over 60 of the biggest acts in the world to music lovers at Toronto Island Park, September 8th and 9th. Whether it’s catching The Smashing Pumpkins’ return to North America on the Virgin Mobile Stage, international rising stars like Mute Math and local faves Dragonette on the Future Shop Stage, chilling with a cold one and watching Crowned King – winner of the Heavy.com Canadian ContraBand competition - on the Budweiser Stage, or lounging while world-famous DJs spin on the Bacard B-LIVE stage, Virgin Festival Toronto delivers not just music but an experience that fans will never forget.

Love is in the Air

Sometimes festival-goers fall in love with more than just the music. At last year’s inaugural Virgin Festival Toronto, one of the Virgin Angel volunteers, Carly Suppa, met her beau Charlie Clark during Gnarls Barkley’s set. The happy couple lives together now and will be celebrating their one-year anniversary with a trip back to where it all began… “We’re pretty lucky to have such a fun way to celebrate our anniversary each year together,” said Suppa. “We’ll be back at the festival this year to return to the place we met and we’ll come back next year to celebrate all over again.”

Keeping it green

Virgin Mobile and Virgin Festival are committed to going green and to inspiring people to take action and create real change in the fight to protect the environment. Green initiatives this year include:

• Complete on-site recycling and composting
• Generators will all run on bio-diesel fuel
• Biodegradable cups and containers will be used
• Printed materials all use non-toxic inks on recyclable paper
• Trees will be donated to Toronto Island Park after the festival

“Ensuring we leave Toronto Island the way we found it has been a crucial part of the planning process for Virgin Festival,” says Nathan Rosenberg, chief marketing officer, Virgin Mobile Canada. “This year we’ve taken even greater steps than last year to make sure our impact on the Island is kept to a minimum and that we don’t forget our responsibility to the environment.”

Virgin Festival encourages garbage picking! The Global Inheritance TRASHed :: Recycle Store will give everyone the chance to trade in recyclables for cool prizes and other goodies.

In keeping with the Virgin Festival’s green commitment and their sponsorship of FLICK OFF, music lovers can visit the FLICK OFF tent and sign up to take action against climate change, encourage everyone they know to do the same, and find out how they could win a music fest for their very own community.

Global Inheritance is also sponsoring the world’s first-ever Green Games. Enviro-crusaders can get physical and take part in games like Global Warming Chess – a human game of Chess played out on a life-sized Chess Board - while learning key info about recycling, carpooling, clean energy, and way more.

Not your average weekend

While music is the heart and soul of the event, Virgin Festival is way more than just a concert. Virgin Festival Toronto supporters – Virgin Mobile, Future Shop, Much Music, Motorola, Bacardi, Budweiser, Hewlett Packard, Dentyne, Global Inheritance, RBC Royal Bank, GM Canada, Levis, iTunes, Heavy.com, Xbox, Energizer and CKIN2U – have teamed up to deliver a unique and dynamic experience that music lovers will never forget.

“There is never a break in the action - when you’re looking to change gears, you can get a massage, pick up some free stuff, get the red carpet celebrity experience, or meet a new friend at the kissing booth,” says Andrew Bridge, director of Virgin Festivals, Virgin Mobile Canada. “No matter what you’re into checking out, each of our partners brings something different to the festival to make sure that each and every festival-goer will have an unbelievable time.”

From food to fashion to fun, Virgin Festival Toronto has everything covered:

• Fashionistas (or just plain ol’ exhibitionists) can sign up for the Levi’s ‘Vote 4 Style’ competition where they can model their denim-clad booty for the chance to star in a real Levi’s ad.
• Calvin Klein’s CKIN2U is throwing the CKIN2U scavenger hunt. Find the cast of characters spread throughout the Festival site, snap a pic of them with your camera phone, and you can enter to win a customizable grand prize – one for him, one for her.
• Find out if you’re kissably fresh at the Dentyne kissing booth.
• iTunes Canada is hooking up music lovers with a free 3-song iTunes card! Track down a Virgin Festival Angel to get yours and get downloading.
• Fans can meet their fave artists in person at the Future Shop autograph tent during both days of the festival and enter to win Future Shop gift cards.
• Motorola will give festival goers the chance to capture their fame on film, as they dress up as their favourite celebrity and get the full paparazzi experience.
• Fans can get their groove on in the Bacardi B-Live Tent where world famous DJs will be spinning. They can recover afterwards with a little massage action in the Virgin Festival village.
• Virgin Mobile will hook up Text 2 Screen so friends, enemies, (and even frenemies…) can text their personal messages to the big screens on either side of the Virgin Mobile Stage. Virgin Mobile also brings the Ultimate Thumb-Fighting Championship. Contestants have to qualify during the opening rounds by passing challenges – such as texting “supercallafragalisticexpialadocious” in a set time. Winning texters will move on through different rounds until the winner is crowned.
• Gamers can get their fix of Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution Ultimate at the Xbox 360 gaming booths.
• You’re never too old to ride the merry go round. Music lovers can head over to Centreville Amusement Park for free from 1pm-7pm on both days of Virgin Festival for some old skool fun on the ferris wheel, carousel, bumper boats, log flume, miniature train and much more...

Virgin Cares

Virgin Mobile’s Virgin Festivals (Vancouver and Toronto) are expected to raise more than $100,000 for Virgin Unite this year. This will be made up of donations from ticket sales and from onsite fundraising.

Virgin Unite is the independent charitable arm of the Virgin Group, created to unite people and Virgin's global resources to make a difference. Virgin Unite works on a range of programs across the globe with a special focus on youth-related issues and HIV. For more information visit www.virginunite.com.

Calling on Angels

Virgin Mobile Angels will be on site to make sure that everyone has a great time. If anyone stubs their toe, can’t find the beer tent, or just needs to see a smiling face the Virgin Mobile Angels will be able to lend a hand to make sure everyone gets what they need.

Spreading the love from coast to coast

Can’t make it to Virgin Festival Toronto? Then tune in live for full festival coverage on MuchLoud or watch live music feeds online at muchmusic.com/vfest. For additional information about Virgin Festival, please visit www.virginfestival.ca.

Virgin Festival Toronto 2007 Set times

Saturday, September 8

Sunday, September 9

Ticket Availability

Tickets for the festival are going fast and there is now only a limited number of Day Two tickets left! One-day tickets are available for $75.00 (including all sales taxes) plus $1.00 for Virgin Unite and $6 for the ferry to and from Toronto Island. Two-day tickets are $125.00 (including all sales taxes), plus $1.00 for Virgin Unite and $12 for the ferry to and from Toronto Island.

Tickets for Virgin Festival Toronto are available at all Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.ca, futureshop.ca, select Toronto-area Future Shop locations, Rotate This, Soundscapes and by calling (416) 870-8000. Single day tickets will also be available at the gates.

About Virgin Mobile Canada

Launched in 2005, Virgin Mobile is Canada’s first wireless service created for and defined by youth. The country's first mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), Virgin Mobile has a portfolio that includes monthly price plans, a full range of phones and a broad array of messaging, music and mobile content offerings. J.D. Power and Associates has recognized Virgin Mobile as ranking the highest in customer satisfaction with prepaid wireless service for two years in a row[1]. The Virgin Mobile group of companies has attracted more than 10 million customers worldwide. Virgin Mobile phones are available at more than 4,000 locations with top-up cards available at more than 10,000 locations nationally. Virgin Mobile products can also be purchased online at http://www.virginmobile.ca or by calling 877-662-2824.

About Emerge Entertainment

Emerge Entertainment has produced over 800 concerts since 1997 with a wide spectrum of artists ranging from Björk to James Blunt to The Killers and festivals such as the Virgin Festival & Marc Ecko’s “Getting Up” Festival. Emerge strives to deliver the best and most unique concert experiences to both ticket buyers and artists. Emerge has also worked with corporations such as General Motors, Levi’s, Bluenotes in integrating music and musicians with their brands. Emerge has been nominated for and won several national and regional awards.

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:

Erica Faltous,
Hill & Knowlton Canada
416-413-4695 / 416-655-8221
erica.faltous@hillandknowlton.ca

Chris Baines,

Virgin Mobile Canada

416-607-8412 / 647-378-8859

chris.baines@virginmobile.ca