Ohio’s Inkcarceration Announces Lineup Topped By Slipknot, Rob Zombie, Mudvayne

Katja Ogrin / Redferns – Knot Again
Slipknot’s Corey Taylor performs at England’s Download Festival in June 2019. The band will headline Ohio’s Inkcarceration this September.

Slipknot, Rob Zombie and Mudvayne will headline Inkcarceration Music & Tattoo Festival this September, as the event returns to the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio, for its third edition and first in affiliation with Danny Wimmer Presents.

The gig will be the first in more than a decade for Mudvayne, which announced its reformation after a 12-year hiatus on Monday.

Other musical acts descending on Mansfield Sept. 10-12 include A Day To Remember, Mastodon, Halestorm, Chevelle, Killswitch Engage, Beartooth, Motionless In White, Asking Alexandria, Steel Panther, Fever 333, The Hu and Pop Evil.

Inkcarceration will also gather more than 75 tattoo artists for the event and host a nightly tattoo competition. And the festival will offer complimentary tours of the Reformatory, known for its starring role in iconic film “The Shawshank Redemption.” as well as food, beverages, camping and Blood Prison, a “haunted house attraction.”

In 2019, its most recent year of operation, Inkcarceration grossed $2.48 million with a lineup topped by Shinedown, Godsmack and Five Finger Death Punch.

Courtesy Danny Wimmer Presents – Inkcarceration
Slipknot, Rob Zombie and the reformed Mudvayne top this year’s Inkcarceration lineup.

“We know firsthand what it’s like to grow a high concept festival from scratch, and the challenge of taking a great event to the next level,” DWP founder Danny Wimmer said in a statement. “It always starts with the music, but you also need to create a great experience. We’ve been so impressed with Inkcarceration, and how quickly it became a must-see show on the festival calendar. Tattoos are such a central part of the rock n’ roll lifestyle – something that fans are always talking about on our own socials – and it’s such a unique location. I’ve toured the Ohio State Reformatory, and it’s an experience you don’t want to miss. DWP is excited to have the opportunity to bring Inkcarceration to that next level.”

Single-day and weekend general admission and VIP passes are on sale now, as are both car + tent and RV camping packages.

According to a press release, “As Inkcarceration 2021 draws near, Danny Wimmer Presents will be working with local officials to make sure the festival conforms to then-current social distancing protocols.”

In February, Danny Wimmer announced its 2021 festival slate, which consists of Inkcarceration, Kentucky’s Louder Than Life, California’s Aftershock, and Florida’s Welcome To Rockville, with the latter three slated for September, October and November, respectively. At the time, Inkcarceration was scheduled for late July, but was subsequently pushed several weeks to its current September dates.

As part of its reunion announcement Monday, Mudvayne announced it would play at all four 2021 Danny Wimmer Festivals – and stage no other gigs this year.

Earlier this month, Gary Spivack, DWP’s executive senior vice president of talent and curation, explained to Pollstar that for the U.S. festival market, “2021, from Labor Day to Halloween, will be a mess – a beautiful mess.”

“We’re prepared” to put on festivals again, he continued. “We aren’t like, ‘Oh, we can do shows? Let’s go get bands.’ We have been ahead of the game.”

Last August, Slipknot’s management company 5B Artists + Media appeared on Pollstar‘s cover.

“This is heavy duty, all the way around, even for the people who sit on chairs and check people’s laminates coming in and out,” Slipknot founding member and drummer Shawn “Clown” Crahan told Pollstar at the time. “This is devastating. … If everybody stays the course and does what is correct, we may find a solution that allows us to get back to regular business.”

With Inkcarceration’s announcement, those days of normalcy seem to be on the horizon.