Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.; Mr. Little Jeans; Miniature Tigers; Future Islands: Depending on your taste in music, these might look like arbitrary words strung together, or you might recognize them as the names of some up-and-coming bands that performed at Monterey’s second annual First City Festival this weekend.

Before this weekend, I would never have listened to bands as diverse (and often strange) as these. It was a weekend of idyllic weather, overpriced food and beer, fan-girling over long-adored bands, and falling in love with new artists.

After attending Outside Lands Music Festival in San Francisco earlier this month, I had a few longing pangs for the energy that came with being a sardine in a throbbing sea of 60,000 festival-goers (First City, in comparison, has approximately 10,000 attendees).

That being said, First City had a special atmosphere; the only word that truly captures its essence is “chill.” Ok, fine, there are other adjectives in the running””mellow, peaceful, relaxing, rejuvenating””but “chill,” as colloquial and unoriginal as it may be, really gets to the core of First City.

First City takes place at the Monterey Fairgrounds, which is fairly accessible, in addition to being a small venue. The farthest walk from stage to stage was five minutes at most””10 if you drag your feet. The location is also historically impressive: In June of 1967, a three-day rock festival called the Monterey Pop Festival took place there, drawing an estimated 55,000 attendees. This festival set the stage (literally) for Woodstock two years later, featuring performances by such huge names as Janis Joplin, The Who and Ravi Shankar.

During her performance at First City this weekend, Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast said that she was honored to be performing on the same stage that Jimi Hendrix played on nearly 50 years ago.

The people attending First City were certainly atypical for the festival experience I expected. Unlike at Outside Lands, there was no territorial stake claiming before shows. My friend and I arrived at several of the bigger names, like Cults, just before the set began and were still able to get to the very front of the stage.

Many of the performances at the smaller two stages (incidentally, the two stages landscaped with grass instead of dust) drew larger crowds sitting on blankets and towels at the outskirts than standing by the stage.

Truly, it was the best of both worlds: There were many shows that encouraged dancing and jumping (Phantogram, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., Tokyo Police Club), but also many performers more suited for sitting and absorbing the music with a beer in hand.

Walking out of the festival past the beautifully lit trees (complete with whimsically hung chandeliers in the branches) and the carnival-style First City Festival sign, I couldn’t help but feel nostalgic even before I’d left the fairgrounds. Provided First City announces another excellent lineup and budget permitting, I will certainly be returning for another chill weekend at First City Festival next year.

Recommended bands to add to your playlist: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., Geographer, Midi Matilda, Best Coast, Phantogram, Cults, San Fermin and Lo-Fang.