Modest Mouse & Passion Pit Confirmed For Inaugural First City Festival

Promoted by the same Goldenvoice team behind Southern California’s Coachella, the Northern half of the Golden State can now look forward to its own major music spectacle with the sale of First City Festival tickets for a ‘sophisticated musical line-up of 30-plus bands in a relaxed and beautiful coastal setting.’

Staged over the weekend of August 24-25, the inaugural festival might only be in its infancy but can already boast something of a proud cultural heritage due to its venue. Indeed, the Monterey County Fair & Event Center is at the same location which held the legendary 1967 Monterey Pop Festival that introduced the likes of Janis Joplin, The Who and Otis Redding to a wider audience, famously inspired Jimi Hendrix to set his guitar on fire and is widely credited with kick-starting the whole Summer of Love movement.

But the two-day event will be hoping to create a legacy of its own with an impressive line-up featuring some of North America’s most intriguing and inventive alternative acts, in addition to a vaudeville variety stage, a selection of carnival rides and games and various food and drink vendors.

Prog-rock revivalists MGMT, synth-pop outfit Passion Pit and indie veterans Modest Mouse are unarguably the three biggest artists scheduled to perform, with the likes of former Fleet Foxes drummer Father John Misty, noise-rock quintet Deerhunter and dream-pop duo Beach House just some of the other notable names on the bill.

But those with First City Festival tickets can also enjoy sets from a number of artists that are on the cusp of breaking through to the mainstream, from Danish electro-soul duo Quadron, whose lead singer Coco recently appeared on The Great Gatsby soundtrack, to chillwave producer Toro Y Moi, who recently scored his first Billboard chart entry with third album, Anything In Return, to 4AD signing Purity Ring, one of the leading figures on the burgeoning witch house scene.

Other acts confirmed to appear on the bill include Akron/Family, The Antlers, Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks, The Black Angels, Bleached, Blitzen Trapper, Capital Cities, Civil Twilight, Delta Rae, Delta Spirit, Devendra Banhart, The Dodos, Dr. Dog, Electric Guest, Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed, Generationals, Guards, Guy Blakeslee, The Hold Steady, Jeffertitti’s Nile, Light Fantastic, Lucero, Neko Case, Okkervil River, Seventeen Evergreen, Tennis and Washed Out.

There are currently a limited number First City Festival tickets available to buy on TicketIQ. As of now you can pick up 2-day passes for $433-$446, but keep checking back for more options on how to gain access to one of the most exciting new festivals to hit the North American scene this year.