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Tickets for one day of last year's Virgin Mobile Festival ran upwards of $100. This year, all 30,000 tickets were free. Call it a recession bonus from British billionaire and Virgin founder Richard Branson. The festival, held Aug. 30 at the Merriweather Post Pavilion outside of Baltimore, featured Blink-182, Weezer and Franz Ferdinand as headliners. Branson himself was on hand and talked to TIME about the project, the recession and Virgin's next improbable plan. (See TIME's 10 Questions video with Richard Branson...
...What was your reaction when Virgin Mobile came to you and told you they wanted to make this festival free? I thought the idea was brilliant. This is the worst economic year for young people since they've been born. A lot of them are out of work, are struggling to get jobs, and quite a large number are quite literally on the street. I'm sure I gulped and then almost definitely said, "Screw it - let's do it." And it's such a feel-good thing for everybody, and I think we'll raise a lot of money...
...Virgin faring in the recession? Fares on international routes in particular are down across the industry. Well, Virgin America is a great airline and we're very proud of it. If you can create the best airline in your field, it's going to do well. Long haul is tougher because business class has collapsed. But Virgin Atlantic is 25 years old this year. We've been through 9/11, SARS - you name it. And fortunately we've built up the financial capabilities to deal with these tough years. We're just having to tighten the belt until the good years...
...Some good ideas have come to me in letters over the years. Virgin Mobile wouldn't have existed if someone hadn't shoved a letter in my hand and said that mobile-phone customers are being ripped off and that he thought he could form a mobile company in the Virgin brand. I read the letter, rang him back and now Virgin Mobile is set up in 10 countries and has done very well. It made sense to do this [on Twitter], and hopefully we won't miss the good ideas...
...What's the status of Virgin Galactic, your new space-flight initiative in New Mexico? Has the recession derailed those plans at all? Virgin Galactic is on schedule. The mother ship flew successfully at Oshkosh, Wis., and I actually flew successfully in it. The first spaceship will be unveiled in the Mojave Desert in December...