Tattoos on stage and crowd surfing moms: Here's what happened at Day 1 of Louder Than Life

A slew of rock and heavy metal bands played under ominous skies Thursday on day one of the 10th Louder Than Life music festival. Thursday's headliners included Slipknot , Five Finger Death Punch , Halestorm , Seether , Sum 41 , and The Offspring .

"It’s the music. It’s the people," said Melissa Spears, from just north of Little Rock, Arkansas, who was enjoying her seventh Louder Than Life. "This is home for me."

First-time festival-goer Aleksander Rohde came from Norway to see Slipknot, his second time seeing the American heavy metal band this year.

"It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly why," he said. "I just like their style. I think they make great music. Their songs are catchy. And hopefully, I’ll find some bands I haven’t heard before."

Single-day general admission tickets are still available for the festival, which is seeing, "record-breaking numbers," according to Danny Wimmer Presents , which puts on the four-day festival.

Here are some highlights from Thursday at Louder Than Life:

Jigsaw Youth is the first band to perform at 10th Louder Than Life festival

Jigsaw Youth , an all-female punk ensemble from Staten Island, New York, had the distinction of being the first band to play on the first day of the 10th anniversary of Louder Than Life, a four-day rock and heavy metal festival.

"It was a little nerve-racking to be first," Maria Alverez, guitarist of Jigsaw Youth, told the Courier Journal. "We drove 10 hours from Staten Island because we knew it would be amazing because it's Louder Than Life but I didn't expect there to be so many people in the crowd that early in the day."

The powerhouse trio, made up of Alverez, Nastacha Beck, and Alex Dmytrow, is currently opening for English punk band Bob Vylan on a US and Canada tour. Jigsaw Youth recently released its single “Waiting,” which the band played for the Louder Than Life crowd as well as the soon-to-be-released song "Secret."

Dead Poet Society lead singer gets a tattoo during live stage performance

An on-stage moment we were not expecting came courtesy of the Dead Poet Society when lead singer Jack Underkofler opted to get a tattoo during the set.

"I had the outline of this tattoo done six months ago and I found out the artist, Annie Miao, was coming to this festival so we decided to finish it on stage," Underkofler told the Courier Journal.

The Southern California band's drummer Will Goodroad, kept the song going while Underkolfer was getting inked.

"I didn't realize what the set-up for all this was before we started, so as it turned out, my drum riser was directly behind Jack's bare booty," he said. To help keep the music going during the tattoo session, Josh Katz, the guitarist from the band Badflower, stepped in to play. Badflower performed later Thursday at Louder Than Life.

So what is the tattoo?

Underkolfer was kind enough to partially undress and show us his now completed Emo tattoo. It's a cute little robot character from the "Adventure Time" cartoon.

Headbangers Hall features surprise bartenders from band Finger Eleven

Just off the main entrance at Louder than Life is a squat, black building, flanked by two tall suits of armor, with "Headbangers Hall" in red script above the doorway.

Inside is what festival organizers say is an intimate space for unexpected encounters, from celebrity bartenders to vintage and rare bourbons and "renowned chefs' delights."

A DJ entertained the festival goers in the dimly lit, moody space Thursday afternoon. Closer to the neon signs behind the bar were two familiar faces fresh off one of the main stages: lead vocalist Scott Anderson and drummer Steve Molella of the Canadian rock band Finger Eleven .

Anderson and Molella were slinging cocktails after their early afternoon set, one of the final performances of their summer tour. “I wasn't sure what kind of crowd we were going to play to at the Louder Than Life Festival, but we're running into fans, and I couldn't be happier,” Anderson said. "I was expecting, like, a harder, hostile crowd, and they totally embraced us. I had a lot of anxiety about the show, and they totally put me at ease. It was fun for everyone."

The bandmates took a quick break from bartending to take a permanent marker to the head of festivalgoer Adam Brewer.

The Mississippi native, now stationed with the U.S. Army in Missouri, was marking his first Louder Than Life with fellow soldier Cameron Moore, of Michigan.

Earlier this year, Brewer was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease and started losing his hair.

"My goal was to get everyone to sign my head, because I lost my hair, and I miss my headbanging hair," he said, adding that he was prepared to crowd surf to the front of the crowd when Five Finger Death Punch played Thursday night to have the whole band add their signatures.

Moore didn't get his head signed but also enjoyed what Headbangers Hall had to offer.

"They have really unique special drinks in there," he said. "It's a great atmosphere. They're playing similar music, but you're not listening to everything you just listened to on stage. It's a good place to get pre-amped."

The pair, with weekend passes, were excited to see Five Finger Death Punch, immediately followed Thursday night by headliner Slipknot.

"This not only met but it exceeded my expectations," Moore said. "I've never been to a metal or a rock festival, and I wouldn't be surprised if I come back every year."

As the friends headed out of Headbangers Hall for more music, the Finger Eleven bartenders were still on the clock.

"This is more fun than your average interview," Anderson said of his time behind the bar. "We actually get to meet fans up close. It's a really nice community of music lovers and they happened to include us, and we're very grateful for that.”

Hip-hop trio Kneecap brings mixture of English and Irish to Louder Than Life stage

An international treat was served up for Louder Than Life fans on Thursday thanks to an electric performance by a band from Ireland with a message of preserving Irish culture and the indigenous Irish language.

Kneecap is an Irish hip-hop trio from West Belfast, Northern Ireland. The band, who go by stage names Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Provaí, rap in a mixture of English and Irish.

"I am not sure how well the American audience understands us at this point but they have really stepped up," said DJ Provai. "We've been touring in the U.S. for a couple of weeks and the crowds keep getting bigger."

The group dropped its first track C.E.A.R.T.A (“rights” in Irish) in 2017 and its debut album 3CAG in 2021. Since then, Kneecap has been on an uphill trajectory. The trio's second album, "Fine Art" was released earlier this year landing at No. 2 on the Irish charts — beaten only by Taylor Swift.

The band made its American television debut earlier this year on " The Tonight Show with Jimmy Falon " and made a splash at the Sundance Film Festival with a biopic titled "Kneecap."

"It won the Audience favorite award and we were pleasantly surprised about that," Móglaí Bap told the Courier Journal. "I think the audience understood about half the movie, but apparently that was enough."

The film depicts a fictionalized account of the trio's rise to fame. In the film, the band members play themselves alongside more experienced actors including Michael Fassbender, Josie Walker, and Simone Kirby. The film premiered at Sundance Film Festival in January and was the first Irish language film to be shown at the festival. Look for the film at this year's Academy Awards as "Kneecap" will be Ireland’s official entry in the awards show.

"Looks like we'll be coming back to America for the Oscars and we'll be wearing suits," said Mo Chara.

Indie rock band Point North plays for its biggest audience ever

Alternative indie rock band Point North played for the biggest crowd in its career at Thursday's Louder Than Life.

"We've been doing this almost our entire lives, and this is the biggest crowd we've ever played for," said lead singer Jon Lundin. "It felt amazing to be up there on this huge stage with such incredible energy coming from the crowd."

The Southern California band took time at the end of its set to take a group photo with the Louder Than Life crowd.

"The most amazing thing I saw out there in the crowd was a mom crowd surfing with her baby," said Sage Weeber, drummer Point North. "It was one of the craziest things I've ever seen, this mom crowd surfing with a cargo jet taking off from the airport flying overhead. It was all just wild."

Reach features reporter Kirby Adams at kadams@courier-journal.com. Reach business and development reporter Matthew Glowicki at mglowicki@courier-journal.com.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Tattoos on stage and crowd surfing moms: Here's what happened at Day 1 of Louder Than Life