88Rising Hosts Head In The Clouds Festival In New York

88Rising hosted it’s annual Head In The Clouds (HITC) Music & Arts Festival in it’s founding home of New York on May 20th and 21st. The signature festival was brought over to the east coast for the first time ever. It touched down in Queens, New York at the Forest Hills Stadium. To top it off, it’s also happening during Asian-American Pacific Islander (AAPI) month, highlighting and amplifying Asian talent and culture. 

Sean Miyashiro, 88Rising’s founder, once stated, “all of this happened in New York City, winter, spring, summer, fall – through the seasons it’s where 88Rising took shape”. Miyashiro also mentioned, “it’s especially meaningful to be able to do it at an iconic venue like Forest Hills Stadium during its 100th anniversary!”

The music festival brought food vendors from every corner of Asia and especially music performances from big names in the Asian artist space. Artists like Niki, Itzy, Rich Brian, Milli, DPR Live, DPR Ian, Beabadobee and XG were all present.

Day 1 – Rainy Day

Starting off as a rainy first day, festival goers lined up and ran over to the stages, the 88Rising & Double Happiness Stages. Many waited for Fifi Zhang who opened up with a few snippets from her recent album, So Beautiful So Lonely. Paravi, Akini Jing, and Warren Hue followed suit with mesmerizing performances showing off their amazing talent.

While some were there to see Milli, others headed over to the Double Happiness stage to see Hojean who performed “Over 85”. Spence Lee, Dumbfoundead, Milli and Beabadoobee brought electrifying performances to the stage and rocked the crowd despite an overcast of clouds and a downpour of rain during their sets. There was definitely hype over Milli, a popular hip-hop artist who hails from Thailand and not a stranger to the HITC festival. Her first time performing at the 88Rising festival was in Pasadena last year and will also be joining the 2023 Pasadena lineup. Milli performed tracks like “Mind Games” (originally performed as a duet with Jackson Wang), “The Weekend” (a remix of Bibi’s song) and “Mirror Mirror” which is originally with F.HERO and features Changbin of Stray Kids. Of course, it’s not a Milli set without her performing “Mango Sticky Rice”!

Day 1 Headliners

The JYP Entertainment ladies, Itzy, performed popular tracks for the New York audience on the 88Rising stage. They sang their hit tracks, “Not Shy,” “Mafia in the Morning,” “Dalla Dalla,”, as well as their most recent, “Sneakers”. They had a full set for the festival. The girls sported black and white outfits and didn’t let the weather stop them from putting on a magnificent performance. Headlining night one is none other than Rich Brian. Rich Brian appeared on top of a lit cube and a live band. The Head In The Clouds OG performed many of his hit tracks and the audience loved it! His set included “100 Degrees,” “Glow Like Dat,” “Drive Safe” among many others. Clo (the HITC cloud mascot) was also shown more agitated during Rich Brian’s sets to match his mood. He was also recently played the lead role in the movie Jamojaya.

After day 1, those in the audience attending day 2 went home in anticipation of what the next day will bring.

Day 2 – Excitement Continues

The next day brought forth more excitement as LØREN, XG, NIKI, P-LO, ATARASHII GAKKO! and more artists took the stage.

Producer and DJ, Dabin hyped the crowd with his remixes of popular tracks. He included “Shooting Star” by XG (who also performed at the festival), “Ditto” by popular girl group NewJeans, and much more. He even included “Tokyo Drift” by Teriyaki Boyz, a legendary track. When “Ditto” came on, everyone in the crowd sang along and it was an epic moment!

The excitement continued when the ladies of girl group XG hit the stage. The rising girl group performed “Mascara”, as well as their debut track, “Tippy Toes”. The K-POP girl group also had special unit stages lined up! But that wasn’t all; XG were well-prepared as they had several outfit changes during their set which is rare at HITC. The group ended their set with their most recent and popular tracks, “Shooting Star,” and “Left Right”. They proved to the U.S. audience that they are an all-rounded group who can dance, sing and rap.

Day 2 Headliners

DPR Live and DPR Ian are no strangers to Head In The Clouds and they showcased their amazing stage presence once more. The set began with DPR Live before DPR Ian joined the stage. Due to mix-ups, we were not allowed back into the pit when DPR Ian came on stage so we have very few photos of the set. While Live performed songs like “Know Me” and “Legacy”, Ian performed “Scaredy Cat,” and “Nerves”. Together, they sang popular tracks, “No Blueberries,” and “Bloom”.

NIKI, a forever regular at Head In The Clouds headlined the second night. The beautiful artist performed tracks like “Ocean & Engine,” and the popular, “High School In Jakarta”. The audience sang along and it was packed for her set. The crowd was excited for Niki as she just completed her tour recently and unfortunately missed HITC LA last year due to Covid. The LA crowd is unquestionably ecstatic that she’s on the list again.

The Grand Finale

As all HITC finales go, the artists come out one by one to perform some collaboration tracks before eventually ending the evening with the 88Rising track “Midsummer Madness”. Most of the artists from day one and two came out for the finale stage on the second night. They showcased their friendship, their amazing talent and made New York another home that highlights, embraces, and amplifies Asian talent.

Head In The Clouds NY Full Lineup

The Head In The Clouds New York lineup included many popular artists from around the world.

• Day 1 Lineup: Fifi Zhang, Akini Jing, Warren Hue, Milli, Beabadoobee, ITZY, Rich Brian, Paravi, Spence Lee, Dumbfoundead, Hojean, ISOXO and Raveena
• Day 2 Lineup: LØREN, Masiwei, Dabin, XG, DPR LIVE & DPR IAN, NIKI, Wolftyla, Veegee, P-LO, ATARASHII GAKKO!, Yeek and Knock2

Photos by: Derreck Stanley

Head In The Clouds Is Coming Back To California!

HITC LA will head back to Brookside at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena this August 2023! It will take place on August 5th and 6th with over 30 artists announced and more surprises to come.

The LA lineup includes: