On Nov. 8 and 9, Ironfest celebrates a milestone. A decade ago, Greater Cincinnati local music mainstay John Gerhardt started the music fest as a tribute to his late best friend, area musician Mike Davidson (aka “Iron Mike”). The event has grown to become one of the most anticipated local music events of the year and, with its dozens of local and touring acts featured each night, it’s also the best “bang for your buck” fest around. Admission to Ironfest — which takes place at The Southgate House Revival (111 E. Sixth St., Newport, southgatehouse.com) — is just $5 each night if you purchase tickets in advance (via ticketweb.com) or $10 day of the show.
Ironfest X is again stacked with a killer lineup featuring some of Greater Cincinnati’s best Hard Rock, Metal and Punk acts, though it also dips into other genres. Local highlights on Nov. 8 include Valley of the Sun (just back from a recent bout of European touring), Veronica Grim, Calumet, Taylor Shannon, Sleepcrawler, A.M. Nice, Black Tractor and Casteless. Saturday’s Ironfest lineup features Tiger Sex, The Dopamines, Vacation, The Raging Nathans, Smoke Signals…, The Nothing, The Perfect Children, Siegelord, The Shivers, Smokehealer, 500 Miles to Memphis and Vampire Weekend at Bernie’s, among many others.
Some former local bands have used Ironfest as a chance to reunite for rare performances. Dropkickmejesus and Oxboard Drain are getting their bands back together for Ironfest X, performing on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
Music begins each day at 6:30 p.m.
Organizers recently posted the full Ironfest X schedule for both nights on its Facebook page, where you can also find the latest updates and more details.
If you want to check out some of the performers ahead of Ironfest, Spotify user Bradley Palermo made a great compilation playlist with nearly 100 tracks from the artists in the lineup:
This article appears in Oct 30 – Nov 12, 2019.