Going back to the Warped Tour Days, festivals catering to this particular subset of the underground are really what you make of them. You can either go into it with a “I see who I see and I’ll enjoy it when it happens, whatever happens.” Or you can run around in maddening, exhausting circles trying to soak it all in and get your money’s worth.
Ohio Is For Lovers - this being my second time at the fest in as many years - is an interesting value proposition. 20+ bands, some 20+ years into their careers, some just starting out, and a few somehow in between career-wise but also massive around the world. This year, Hot Mulligan - who I’ve now seen 3 times on 3 wildly different stages in Cincinnati - closed out the night on the main stage, Silverstein and Senses Fail played along with Hawthorne Heights on the mid-sized stage, and bands like The Devil Wears Prada and Anberlin played the smaller add-on stage. The calculus is fascinating, and, for the most part, it feels like they got it right.
This being a Cincy-centric venture, I had to make some choices when it came to the bands I was going to trek across the grounds to see and when. One thing I will note as frustrating in this case is that two stages were programmed to have bands starting at the same time. I admit a bit of bafflement at the decision, but accepted my fate and chose to join the crowds - and the increasingly large crowd of photographers - at mostly Cincinnati or SW Ohio located bands. Fortunately, that meant being able to catch excellent sets from Leggy and Maura Weaver. Unfortunately, that meant making what I consider my one personal programming mistake and missing Glassworld, who by all accounts ripped the gig. I guess that means I’ll have to get to their next local show to make up for my transgression. I was finally able to see For Your Health and they were as gnarly as I hoped they would be, and Better Anyway was solid live.
It was a genuine pleasure to be able to see Touchdown Jesus bringing their weirdo prog energy to the side stage - the same stage I’d later watch Emery totally rip, The Devil Wears Prada go wild, and Anberlin play a surprisingly heavy set. And The Raging Nathans had a young fan on the sidelines in fairy wings, dancing and taking video, and really, that might have been the highlight of the whole day for me (their set was pretty great, too).
The middle to back half of the day’s lineup was heavily focused on “back to back emo bangers” as JT from Hawthorne Heights proudly proclaimed a few songs into their set. That same stage would see back to back performances from Senses Fail, Hawthorne Heights, and Silverstein. Being the elder statesmen of the scene, it should come as no surprise that each of their sets were standouts - they know what they’re about, they know what their fans are there to see and hear, and they really know how to use the space they have to make such a large stage and space feel small and intimate, and everyone in the crowd feel important and seen. A delicate balance to keep, but there’s a reason these particular bands are still doing what they’re doing - they mean it.
It was really cool to get to see a band like Slow Joy - from Texas - on a stage the size of Riverbend. They’re one of the very real success stories of the pandemic, as they started as an internet only project - specifically on TikTok - that found their audience and have since turned what they were doing into a viable career. They’re also really damn good. Later, I was finally able to see The Wonder Years after too many years, and later, watch Hot Mulligan play to as big a crowd as I’ve seen at a show like this.
The crowd was noticeably bigger than last year. And I’ll be honest, seeing what the crowd was at last year’s show, I wasn’t sure that a) there would be more people at this year’s iteration, or b) that there would even be an iteration of the fest this year. So I was pleasantly surprised to see where things ended up by the time Hot Mulligan took to the stage.
In the narrow space between the crowd and the stage, the amount of people crowded into Riverbend itself was as impressive as it was almost oppressive. There were a lot of people - photographers, security, fans. The energy was slightly manic, but somehow appropriate for a day that seemed to build steadily to that point in particular. On one stage, elder emos. On another stage, more aggressive, more progressive. On the other, up and coming, poppier, bigger. It really was terrifically programmed, and the local bands included in this year’s edition of Ohio Is For Lovers were uniformly excellent. The vibes? Energetic but never chaotic.
This is a fest that could very easily turn kitschy, or rely a little too heavily on nostalgia to the point of exploitation, so kudos to Hawthorne Heights and the team behind Is For Lovers as a concept for keeping things so perfectly balanced. The love and appreciation for the fans does feel like it’s at the center of what’s happening throughout the day, and as a fan and elder emo/geriatric millennial, I appreciate that.
