Formidable demon a mid-July music festival is. Between the smoke, the rain, and the full force of the fucking SUN, festival goers definitely faced all sorts of challenges over Inkcarceration weekend in Mansfield, Ohio. I barely made it out alive and I was only in attendance one day! Despite the challenges, there was obviously very little regret to be had amongst all the crowdsurfing. Get busy living or get busy dying, as one might say.
Unfortunately, that is not a Fall Out Boy reference (though I can make those aplenty), that is, of course, a reference to what Fall Out Boy was referencing. In case you didn’t know, Inkcarceration is a music and tattoo festival that takes place in the Mansfield Reformatory where the Shawshank Redemption was filmed. Between sets, guests can walk through and tour the infamous prison and feel the copious amount of bad vibes in the chapel. There’s also a haunted house. One can even get a tattoo! Inkcarceration really does have just a lot of things you wouldn’t expect to go together– though there is a certain expectation with prisons and tattoos.
Criminally underrated stars of the show that I will always try to give a shout out to are the security staff who not only passed out water to patrons in the sweltering summer sun, but had to deal with our rowdy asses body surfing over top of each others’ heads. While I don’t say this to compare the two festivals, Inkcarceration had multiple water stations, guest services with sunblock, and, incredibly, more diet friendly places to eat than Sonic Temple. Just sayin’. The parking situation was as expected. I mean there’s only so much you can do to mitigate traffic jams when working with a field in the middle of Nowhere, Midwest.
Kicking off my lineup discussion, is Sleep Theory. Which was unfortunately when disaster struck. I’m relatively new to the outdoor festival scene (RIP sad summer fest wish we would have had more time), so I haven’t experienced being evacuated for weather. Sleep Theory put on a killer show and I was having the time of my life! As they were getting ready to start the last song (which I suspect was going to be their recently released N*SYNC cover), their set was cut short for a red alert. At first, I was confused and disappointed. It was still blue sky sunshine out! I am, however, grateful for the abundance of caution and time given to leave the festival. It didn’t rain for long, but it poured! And there would have been nothing more miserable than wet socks in Doc Martens for another 6 hours.
Yes, upon return to the festival, there were cuts to bands and set times which were disappointing. Still, I’d rather be safe and dry than sacrificed to a tornado or wayward bolt of lightning. I do feel bad for fans of the artists cut and hope they got their enjoyment from the rest of the festival and didn’t feel too cheated. Not to brag or anything, but I got to see everyone I still wanted to see. Lacuna Coil was probably my biggest surprise. I’ve never really been a fan, sans listening to a few songs on autoplay and adding them to my playlist, but their live performance was killer! Definitely going to be listening to them more.
One of the appeals of music festivals is to see and experience artists that you haven’t given a proper chance to before to see if you can dig them. Another artist that fell into this category for me was Poppy. Sure, she’d come up on auto-shuffle after a playlist or album was completed but I never really seized the opportunity to really listen to her music.
Unable to perform with Gojira due to passport reasons, Mario Duplantier’s drumming had to be filled. By none other than a kid named Luigi. Is this just the most perfect coincidence in existence or a fun joke played on the audience? I’m not sure, but Luigi (if that is his real name) went absolute batshit on the drums. It had to be a dream come true for that fan. I had an amazing time in the crowd for Gojira’s set despite not being a fan (might be now?). It only served to remind me how little I’ve scraped the surface of the scene, since I’m relatively new to it.
Devastating the competition, my favorite set of the night was Bad Omens. Which anyone who knows me is absolutely not shocked by. Having gone to their concert in Detroit in March, I knew what to expect, but it is always a treat to see them live. There’s just something so relaxing about being in a sweaty crowd of people being yelled at aggressively by some guy.
Everyone, we have to talk about crowd surfing. I know no one wants to hear me preach, but I can’t ignore what I’ve been seeing. If you are going to be in the crowd, you have got to help move crowd surfers. No ducking out of the way and definitely no chucking them forward. That is how people get hurt! For those who are crowd surfing, please cross your ankles and remain as flat as you can. Those are the basic rules to help keep you safe. I don’t have any more pointers because I don’t trust anyone enough to ever do it.
Those were some of the main issues I’ve seen this past year of festivals and concerts I’ve noticed personally. I know I have no authority over these things, but I just want everyone to be safe and have a good time.
Happy as I am to be without my phone for a day, I know others can’t say the same. I’m not here to be judgemental about screen time, but I do want to say that it becomes a safety concern. I know there’s been popular phrases like “I don’t owe anyone anything” going around, but you should care about others. I don’t know what else to say about that. If you absolutely need to take videos of the concert to the point where you’re not helping with crowd surfers or helping people up off the ground when they fall, then stay out of the pit. Go towards the sides or in the back. Again, I’m not saying to not film, I’m just saying make sure you’re taking care of each other out there.
Really, one of the things I’ve loved about the metal and punk scenes all my life is how everyone takes care of each other. In the last few years, I’ve noticed a shift, though. It truly breaks my heart to see us get more and more selfish.
Okay, I’m not going to go farther into it, otherwise I’d never shut up.
Not much else to say about my day at Inkcarcerantion, because I only had the one day and I didn’t have the foresight to book a tattoo appointment. Better believe next year, though, I will be walking out of that dusty prison yard with some fresh ink.
Everyone, be excellent to each other.