Justin Vernon, front man of the musical group Bon Iver (pronounced bohn eevair, French for good winter), spent three months of a cold winter alone in the woods of Wisconsin to write and record Bon Iver’s first album “For Emma, Forever Ago.”

In contrast to the cold and solidarity which inspired him, Vernon and his band performed last Thursday at the Gallivan Center in Salt Lake as a warm summer breeze blew in on a crowd of more than 10,000.

“This is a really cool thing that your city is doing,” said Vernon, as he began playing the free concert, which was the first of this year’s admission free Twilight Concert Series.

The Twilight Concert Series is a spin-off of the Brown Bag Concert Series, which began in 1978 and brings free day-time concerts to downtown Salt Lake. After receiving a grant, the Salt Lake City Arts Council decided to start a new concert series to help activate the downtown area in the evenings, and have something for people who couldn’t come during the day.

Casey Jarman, who is the director of the Twilight Concert Series, has put a lot of time and effort into selecting who will play for this year’s concerts.

“We look for music that has energy and that is artist driven, it’s not about popularity,” Jarman said. “It’s about what artists are doing and who is doing it well.”

This year Jarman and his staff chose artists such as Iron and Wine, The Black Keys, M. Ward, Sonic Youth and Q-Tip, who they believe a college-aged crowd will enjoy.

“Music plays a big role in your life when you’re in your early 20s, and that is an important audience to keep around,” Jarman said.

Wesley Duke, a junior from Boston, enjoyed the crowd at last Thursday’s concert.

“I liked being at a concert where almost everyone in the crowd is my age,” Duke said. “The number of people was perfect; it wasn’t too packed but there were enough people to make it exciting and give the show a real energy.”

On Thursday The Black Keys and Human Highway will be playing at the second concert of the Twilight Series, which runs every Thursday through Aug. 27.

For more information on this year’s Twilight Concert Series visit www.slcgov.com/arts.

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