(Editor’s note: In a bid to get more U.S. festival coverage on the site, we’ve got Sean Matthews out and about taking photos and documenting his experience at various shows. This go around, he spent the past weekend at this year’s Inkcarceration. This is day one, complete with photo galleries.)
After two long days under the Ohio sun, the clouds moved in to give us shade. With a slight cross breeze, the day was looking like a perfect way to end Inkcarceration. That, however, didn’t last long! The clouds broke apart, and the sun beat down relentlessly finishing off anyone who started their burn over the weekend.
Another Day Dawns opened the main stage while people stumbled in, followed by Blessthefall who saw a slightly larger crowd.
It wasn’t until Lancaster, Pennsylvania based group From Ashes To New took to the stage right before 2pm that the crowd filled in, and the energy started flowing. With only a half hour to play, fans were treated to an onslaught of hits, with most people singing along through the entire set.
Jacksonville’s Cold played to a semi crowded secondary stage, while the third stage saw ex-Betraying The Martyrs lead vocalist Aaron Matts new project ten56. Both bands were great in their own right, one being heavier than the other.
Sleeping With Sirens took the stage, with lead vocalist Kellin Quinn greeting the crowd and taunting them to give them all they had. The band themselves were high energy, dancing around, running the stage, and jumping off everything. It was almost contagious, as you could look around, and see fans having a great time both in the most pits, and in the surrounding area.
I took a break, walked through the VIP section of the festival, and picked up some merch. From the back of the crowd, it looked chaotic in the pit, dust clouds in the air, it was a free-for-all during Sleeping With Sirens.
In what I think is the most contagious party band around these days the Dropkick Murphys headed onto the stage with an ode to Boston, appropriately named “For Boston”. Dropping right into “The Boys Are Back” lead singer Ken Casey commanded the stage. Running from side to side, throwing fists in the air, smiling from ear to ear, it really seemed he was having the time of his life. With band members swapping out instruments to play the banjo and the accordion at times, there was always something going on. Multi-instrumentalist Tim Brennan made playing the accordion look easy, even running to center stage for his accordion solo mid way through the third song.
Fellow Bostonians Shadows Fall immediately followed on the secondary stage with 35 minutes of headbanging goodness. Lead singer Brian Fair could be caught whipping both his extremely long hair and his microphone around, with the latter being more like a weapon projecting in circles above his head.
SiriusXM’s “Metal Ambassador” Jose Mangin took to the main stage shortly before 6 p.m., and did what most would consider appalling, but he considers a tradition whenever he is around Australian Metalcore group Parkway Drive. As he introduced the quintet, he removed his shoe, poured a Kona Brewing Big Wave into it… and chugged! Formerly known as a “Shoey”, I’m not quite sure how they convinced him the first time, but now he’s a regular at it.
Chugging beer out of the way… Parkway Drive came out swinging with monster hits “Glitch”, “Prey” and “Vice Grip”. Flames shot higher than any other pyro this weekend, as fans could visibly see the fuel shooting seven or eight feet high. For more than an hour, fans moshed, surfed, and partied while lead singer Winston McCall took it all in from the best seat in the house.
Of Mice & Men walked casually out waved at the crowd, took positions, then dropped right into chaos enducing “Obsolete”. Following with “Castaway” and “Would You Still Be There”. The crowd went into a frenzy, with surfers coming over the barricade so fast security could barely keep up. During “Castaway” lead singer Aaron Pauley asked for the pit to open up, and that it did! Stopping midway through “Would You Still Be There”, the medical team had to enter the area to help an injured fan. A few songs later, once again, full stop due to an injured member of the crowd. What might have been the roughest moshing I’ve seen in a while; fans loved every minute of it.
With main stage direct support Bad Omens playing as dusk broke, singer Noah Sebastian, donned his black ski mask for the opening number, before removing it for “Like A Villain”. Fire shot through the sky, and backdrop LED screens played seizure inducing visuals to make for an amazing overall show. Noah took time to interact with the crowd pitting one side against the other in a “mosh pit” battle of sorts ramping up the energy level overall.
Closing out the secondary stage was American Christian Rock group Skillet. Drummer Jen Ledger walked on stage, waved and took a bow before sitting on her throne atop a riser. Playing as the the rest of the group entered, Korey, Seth and John walked out, and “Feel Invincible” rang through the night sky. Only stopping for moments between sets to acknowledge the crowd, fans were treated to an hour of greatest hits, and uplifting music. A good calm after Bad Omens, and a perfect setup for headliner Shinedown
If anyone knows how to close out a festival, it’s Florida based Shinedown! With explosive sparklers, flames, and even fireworks off the top of the stage, nothing was off limits for the quartet. With astonishing background visuals, Brent, Zach and Eric worked the whole stage, wandering to the limits of the digital screens, bringing outlying fans closer to them than possible. Over 20 years in the business they have perfected how to entertain a mass audience, with their closure of Inkcarceration 2024 flowing seamlessly for more than an hour.
With no information as of yet on 2025, only time will tell what’s in store for the 75,000 fans that converged on this small town in mid-Ohio for next year. To stay up to date with announcements, and pickup merchandise you may have forgotten, head over to the official website, www.inkcarceration.com.