This event has really ballooned in recent years, so if you haven't been in a while, be prepared for longer waits, crazy parking, and more people. It's still fun, but I can't imagine what a sold-out day feels like.
We went on Friday for the 2024 Inkcarceration. Got there about an hour or so in, and you quickly slam into a line of cars struggling to figure out where to go to park. They provide info on a couple of lots on the website, but depending on which direction you come from, you may never be able to reach those lots without waiting over an hour in line. Fortunately? there are a bunch of businesses and houses that offer parking as well. It does feel a little less safe and certainly unofficial, but I saw parking for as low as $20 a mile or less from the event.
Inside, it's familiar yet different from Sonic Temple (which is run by the same group). The space is 50% sloped and largely dirt that became epic dust clouds throughout the day. Rain would have made this miserable. The food options were as good or better than we found at Sonic, but many ran out of food midway through the day. The alcohol options were fewer. Bathrooms were only porta potties unless you had VIP.
There was virtually no way to escape the sun. The small covered areas they did have were packed to the gills with people lying down or looking sick. The sun was directly overhead all day and cut under the awnings anyway. I never understand why these shows don't sell cheap sunscreen and sunglasses, and make free water more accessible. Keep the crowd safe and ready to enjoy the full weekend. We applied sunscreen but failed to bring more with us and still managed to get horribly burned. We skipped day 2 because of the sunburn, likely resulting in several hundred dollars of lost food and drink revenue from us. Oh, well. It was our fault, I guess, but we clearly were in the majority - being people who got overexposed to the sun.
The one water refill station was running a 45 minute line all day, so we succumbed to $8 bottles of water that they confiscated the caps from, so we couldn't even save it for later. We eventually went to the Monster booth to get something cold and free. They packed up shop before 8:00 and apparently never came back Saturday because they were not paid. Shame for them, because the sampling did turn me onto a new flavor I will buy in the future and it was the only refreshing part of the day for us.
The Reformatory tours were sold out to pre-sales, ticketed only, and still had a 1.5 hr line to get in despite this. The line for the tattoo exhibition was about 30 minutes and was cool to see. You actually walk through enough of the reformatory this way that it would be plenty for most people if you didn't feel like paying and waiting for the main tours. Personally I'd never get tattooed in a rushed environment full of sweaty and drunk su burned people, but the artists largely showed real talent if getting a keepsake tattoo is your jam.
In the end, when it got really full, it was difficult to walk around outside and bounce from stage to stage. Again, I can't imagine how bad it was Saturday when it was supposedly much busier.
Despite all this I give it 4 stars because it's a truly great lineup of bands. Very few felt phoned in or not worth seeing. But plan ahead for travel or lodging, for lines and parking, for water and sun protection. Be ready to spend a ton of money on water and an arm and a leg for alcohol and food. Oh, and the merch is terribly upcharged. All the t-shirts seemed to start at $40, but now I'm seeing the limited edition Chimaira shirt I bought for $10 less on their website. 🫠 Bring a clear backpack for water and merch, sunscreen, etc. They didn't really check anything closely so we could have gotten in with extra water - or whatever other things people like to smuggle into...
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