[RECAP] HITC 2022: Spending a Weekend in the Clouds

88rising did it again! Head in the Clouds (HITC) 2022, held on August 20th and 21st in Pasadena, California. They took over the Brookside at the Rose Bowl and it was definitely a success once again.

With 626 Night Market in charge of food vendors and 88rising in charge of artists, it’s the perfect combination. Food and drink choices included Boba Guys, bopomofo, Baozza, Johnnie Walker, Shake Ramen and so much more! Attendees also had a chance to buy merchandise for 88rising, HITC, and certain artists on the lineup (Joji had his own merchandise pop-up)! Speaking of booths, a fan favorite was the “NICOLE” booth. This booth was setup for NIKI’s new album. Unfortunately she wasn’t able to attend last minute due to testing positive for COVID. The interactive booth allowed you to take a yearbook photo that was posted up for some time, as well as sit in a classroom to take photos. Those who interacted with this booth walked away with not only the experience and photos, but also a limited-edition NICOLE Sharpie!

We all know it’s not a festival without an amazing lineup of talented artists! With a star-studded lineup comes a star-studded crowd! If you bought tickets to the South Bay Surf Club, you would have been in close proximity with Kevin Woo, Max Schneider, Simu Liu (yes Shang-Chi was in the crowd!) and K-POP idol group WJSN to name a few! The festival was split with two stages and one tent; 88rising stage (the main attraction), Double Happiness stage, and the Club Year Of dance tent.

Head In The Cloud 2022 Lineup included:

Day 1 of HITC

There were many memorable moments on the Double Happiness stage but to keep it short, we wanted to highlight Thuy on this stage. She performed some of her tracks such as, “In My Head” and “Chances”. She also brought a couple to the stage for her track “Universe”. That’s not all, during her set, special guest RINI appeared to perform their collaboration track, “trust“.

The 88rising stage started off with Hojean in his signature hoodie and jacket; yes it’s hot in California in August but that doesn’t stop Hojean! He added his upcoming track “Swing” to his setlist so stay tuned for his 1st EP coming soon. Following his act, MILLI came on stage wearing a cloud as a hat. She performed tracks such as, “Not Yet”, “Mirror Mirror”, and “Mind Games”. Check out our interview with her!

Taking a little break on the main stage, Dabin came out to DJ and energize the audience before K-POP star, Chungha, came on stage. She performed many of her hit songs including her newest track “Sparkling”, her debut song, “Why Don’t You Know”, as well as, B Side track, “California Dream”. The performer chatted with the crowd and also stopped to sign her album. She was definitely glowing and in her element.

Last minute lineup announcement included the popular dance team, Kinjaz! Their set was unfortunately a short 10 minutes but they used it up wisely and the performance was definitely memorable. Following their performance was Jay Park who brought out two special guests: Sik-K and pH-1. This was his first time back in LA after 3 years and fans must have been excited as he started trending on Twitter after his set. They performed tracks such as, “Ganadara”, “The Purge”, and “Iffy”. Jay Park was ready to promote his new soju company, Won Soju, as he drank it during his set while performing “K-Town”. Of course, his set wasn’t complete until he took off his shirt for a fan favorite. “Mommae”.

Next it was Keshi’s turn as he replaced NIKI on the lineup. Many who attended the year before called this his redemption stage as there were unfortunately many technical issues the year before during his set. Out of all of the artists, we can see that Keshi grew the most confident over the past year. This showed during his performances and the way he interacted with the audience. He performed tracks such as “GET IT”, “drunk”, and “2 soon”. During “drunk” Keshi brought out his guitar and had fans turn on their phone lights which set a whole different atmosphere. Fans also asked him to repeatedly take off his shirt where he hilariously replied, “Not today! Can’t hear you. Didn’t you just see Jay Park take his off?”

The night ended with our last performance by Joji or Yebi Labs as his DJ set is known as. He had a gigantic 3 tier DJ booth on stage where he resided at the top. Joji included remixes for his tracks such as “Run” and “Glimpse of Us”. He then ended his set by coming out to sing some of his tracks such as “Sanctuary” and fan favorite “Slow Dance” where it seemed as if all of the attendees were singing along. If someone will get you in your feels, it’s definitely during a Joji song.

HITC DAY 2

We may have been a little tired from all the excitement from Day 1 but that didn’t stop the attendees from getting ready for day 2!

On the Double Happiness stage, there were many great artists! Stephanie Poetri, Dumbfoundead, No Rome, and Lastlings were on this stage throughout the day. Raveena sang tracks such as “Honey”, “Mystery”, and “Dum Maro Dum” in Hindi. Teriyaki Boyz were the headliners for this stage! They mention that it had been around 10 years since they’ve performed together so HITC was definitely special for them. The audience was most excited to hear “Tokyo Drift” during their set. The Club Year Of dance tent, was also a popular attraction where a line was formed outside for the whole day. The special guest for Day 2 ended up being DJ Manila Killa who definitely kept everyone in the tent hyped.

First on the 88rising stage was Ylona Garcia with a gorgeous one-piece custom-made outfit. Ylona is definitely a great performer. She sang her latest track “Vibin”, covered Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy”, and sat at the end of the extended stage to talk to fans and showcase a montage video for “Don’t Go Changing”. Check out our interview with this diva! Following that performance was ATARASHII GAKKO! who has a total of four very unique members: Suzuka, Rin, Kanon and Mizyu. They legit had fun on stage and sang tracks like “CANDY”, “WOO! GO!”, and “NAINAINAI”.

Warren Hue then took the stage with his partner-in-crime, Chasu (or in this case DJ Chasu). The duo performed tracks such as “RUNAWAY W ME”, “Star In Love”, and songs off of his new album Boy Of The Year. Fans showed their love for Warren by repeatedly passing flowers to him on stage which ended up being something we saw for majority of the sets for the rest of the day. Tobi Lou also came out as a special guest for their collaboration, “In The Bag”.

For Bibi’s set, she came out dressed in all-white (including white cowboy boots with stars). She performed hit tracks, “Best Lover”, the fan favorite, “The Weekend”, “Kazino”, and a song off of her upcoming album “Lowlife Princess”. She mentioned to the audience that if they haven’t yet watched the music video for “Kazino” that they should as it was very expensive!

Returning to the main stage for the second year in a row, eaJ (Jae of Day6) showcased his years of experience by performing through a fever and sore throat (sent a scare to fans the day before via Twitter when he announced this). “In My Civic”, “LA Stars”, his only official track, “Car Crash”, and more were performed during his set. Following Eaj, it was time for arguably one of the most popular of the 88rising artists, Rich Brian, who took the stage with the song “Gospel”. He then went on to perform, “Curious”, “History”, and “Edamamae” which featured an awesome trombone player.

Finally, it was time for the most anticipated sets of the night! Jackson Wang with the Magic Man Experience had the entire HITC crowd up on their feet. He started off with his most popular song, “100 Ways”, newer tracks “Blow” and “Cruel”, and unreleased tracks from his upcoming album “Magic Man” which will be released on September 9th, 2022. And if you missed Kinjaz during their 10-minute set on day 1, they made a surprise appearance for “Cruel”. Jackson used everything he could get his hands on, including a ton of fog, fire, fireworks, and a stage lift.

FINALE TIME! This has always been a crazy spectacle at the 88rising concerts and this time was no different. It started off with Jackson Wang & MILLI performing their recently released track “Mind Games”, followed by Attarashi Gakko!, and Teriyaki Boyz with Rich Brian for “Tokyo Drift Freestyle”. Warren Hue & Chasu performed “Jade” with Rich Brian and then went on to perform “California” featuring Jackson. The ending song was “Midsummer Madness” where August 08 made his usual special appearance. Many of the artists from the lineup, dancers, etc. came out for the last time during the weekend, including a huge surprise appearance by actress Michelle Yeoh!

As this was a hit festival that definitely rivals Coachella, we’ll be waiting for the next one in 2023!

Written by: Diana | Edited by: Mari
Photos by: Jeremy (rudefino on IG) | Title by: Ephney T.