INKCARCERATION MUSIC & TATTOO FESTIVAL 2026
Ohio’s heaviest music Festival has come and gone for another year. They say don’t be sad that it’s over but be happy that it happened so that’s what I’m going to do and hopefully let you in on it as best I can. Our trip began on Thursday as it’s always helpful to get in town the day before the festival to limit driving the first day.
We arrived around 6:30 in Mansfield to an extremely smokey sky and awful smelling air. The Canadian wildfires were burning and affecting the area w/ air quality alerts & Hazardous condition situations coming in abundance. Staying hydrated and of course being in doors was the suggestions of local analysts and also common sense, however there was a Pre Party less than a ten-minute walk from our hotel.
BONUS COVERAGE
PRE-PARTY AT WAREHOUSE TAVERN
Rejecting all warnings we made the ten-minute walk to the outdoor 6 band show put together by Core Collective Talent Agency featuring VCTMS, Yung Mosh, Aimpoint and more. We were able to catch 3 or the bands arriving just a SAVING VICE took the stage. We spent a majority of that set getting to know the area a bit. The bands all had merch set up along w/ a few food trucks. You could also go inside the Warehouse Tavern to cool off and get a drink. It was a real family type environment as all bands were walking around and hanging out. For their part Saving Vice’s vocalist broke his finger on stage and they brought out Fight From Within’s Michael Hayes on a song. Micheal is also behind the booking of the show.
Next up was hometown boys AIMPOINT. Holy shit, these guys have that Kublai Khan style in your face metal. They 100% made a fan out of me. They brought out the pool noodles and got the crowd going and turned it into one gigantic block party. The band was on fire as they blasted through a shorter set. They always say leave the fans wanting more and these guys did just that. The scene of pool noodles and chaos they brought will be a lasting impression on all who were in attendence.
The final act we saw was YUNG MOSH. He brings a hip hop metal style layered in auto tune and crazy break downs. He’s a very crowd friendly artist who insists on you moving or he will personally come down to help you move with him. He spent a good amount of time walking through the crowd during his set. He had some very catchy melodies along with crushing guitars. We had to take off towards the end of his set as the air was beginning to be a bit much. I hope this is a yearly thing for the festival as I can see this becoming bigger each year. Though I must say the turnout for this was pretty astounding.