Today is the one year anniversary from our first time going to the Head In The Clouds festival in November of 2021. In honor of this day, we put together this summary of our second go around in August of this year!

We made our way back to the promised land of Brookside at the Rose Bowl for our second Head In The Clouds music festival. It’s been dubbed ‘Asian Coachella’ by the media due to the presentation of artists exclusively from the Asian diaspora, but the nickname also makes sense because it’s organized by Goldenvoice, who promote Coachella.

Last year the festival took place in November, which made for a lot better weather as it was absolutely scorching hot this August and we could barely move for most of the afternoon until the sun set. Last year they also had VIP on the opposite side which meant we were closer to the smaller stage, so it was easier to do trips back and forth to it. We were too hot to do that this year, so all our ratings and reviews are of main stage acts only.

While last year we chose to do a podcast episode (you can listen or watch to find out the 2021 HITC tea), this time around we didn’t have too much of a different experience, so we just did a short review video that we posted to TikTok. These are our more detailed thoughts on the main stage acts we saw at Head In The Clouds 2022:

Hojean 8/10

• It was our first encounter with him and his music.
• Fun set. He has a great vibe and is very talented.
• Made us sweat just by seeing him in that jacket. 

Milli 10/10

• Came out with a cloud on her head – literally. Obsessed.
• Is adorable/funny. We expected some antics from her after she pulled out the mango and sticky rice at Coachella, and she didn’t disappoint. Thai pride for sure.
• Great vibe with music & dance. And a little ratchet, which 1. same and 2. we LOVE and LIVE for.
• Amazing crowd work.

Dabin 9/10

• So many fans with his merch excited to see him, it got us excited even if we didn’t know him from before.
• Filled my ex-raver heart. Took me back to Ultra Miami times, but without the claustrophobic main stage moshpit PTSD.
• Had some good remixes that got us and the crowd hyped.

Chung Ha ♾️/10 

• ADORABLE.
• THE CUTEST.
• So talented/amazing vocals. We knew this, but it always hits different when you see someone live.
• Great set. And the fact that she took the time to sign fan’s albums between songs? A queen of the people.
• Sad she didn’t play Bicycle or Dream of You, which were the two songs we wanted to hear most, and still we couldn’t deduct a single point.
• SHE’S PERFECTION. The end.

Kinjaz 8/10

• What kind of set lasts 10 minutes? We understand they were added last minute after Yoon Mirae and Tiger JK pulled out (which 👀👀👀👀👀), but still. I for one could have seen more.
• All of them can get it. Every single one.

Jay Park 100000000/10 

• BROUGHT SIK-K AND pH-1 ARE YOU KIDDING ME. You may not know how obsessed I am with pH-1 and I’d say you’re lucky you haven’t heard me screaming about him. But featuring Harry is literally all it would take for me to score someone’s set higher than the stratosphere.
• Had the crowd eating out of his hand.
• Came out fully dressed but left shirtless (as he should). The people want Mommae and we get his mommae too.  
• Great setlist choices.  

Keshi 10/10 

• I’m going to be 100% transparent with you. After pH-1 came out and I lived my ultimate dream, I sat down facing the opposite side of the stage and went into full post-concert depression. Keshi’s music fit my mood 100%.
• Admirable that he stepped up to take Niki’s spot the same week of the festival as she was forced to drop out due to covid.  
• Still had the crowd just as excited to see him and that says a lot!
• Everyone was mesmerized/hypnotized.
• Jay Park called him a “sexy Vietnamese dude from Houston” and that phrase should be on his tombstone.

Atarashii Gakko! ♾️/10 

• Had never heard of this group before HITC Day 2 when we arrived in the middle of their set, and now we’re READY TO DEDICATE OUR LIVES TO WORSHIPPING THEM. WOW.
• They’re so high energy, so talented, so good, so fun. How can they sustain such high octane performances back to back? Incredible. 
• SO CUTE. Please go subscribe to them immediately.

Warren Hue & Chasu 9/10

• Warren has grown so much as an artist since he first was on stage last year. Boy Of The Year FOR SURE.
• His setlist was really fun.
• Chasu and him really played off each other well. 
• Nice of him to bring Tobi Lou out AND let him play his own song. 

Bibi ♾️/10 

• OUR QUEEN. OUR LIFE. OUR LOVE. We met her last year on this same stage and we have lived to see her thrive ever since. 
• WHY IS SHE SO CUTE?! 
• Amazing setlist – hello latin backing band?! @/the_brownboyz were amazing.
• THE SINGING IN SPANISH?! DEAD. We’re currently buried at Brookside and our 3D holograms are going on living on our behalf.
• Her outfit?! Amazing. Perfect for her and the weather (everyone wearing jackets during the day were crazy).

Rich Brian 10/10

• He’s not about the dancers/props and really focuses on the music – RESPECT.
• The crowd was SO there for him and we loved that. Everyone sang along without being loud like we are in Miami, which is always a weird experience for us.  
• Good ass songs. It was a vibe.

Jackson Wang 3/10 

• We haven’t seen this take anywhere so we know we probably are alone in this, but we were so confused by his set.
• We love and support Jackson and have for very long. But WHO plays an unreleased album no one knows at a festival? Especially when so much of the music is dark and down? He has so much fun and great music, and we understand he may not align with much of it these days but come on. A whole new album that no one has any context of? Not even Oxygen?!  
• His set was cut short 10 minutes from what was originally promised, and we were not happy about it. Sure, it was to make the finale start 10 minutes earlier but still, we still got 10 minutes less where he could’ve played any other song from his repertoire. Just missed opportunities everywhere.
• He didn’t even say “I’m Jackson Wang From China.” Feels like the end of an era we weren’t ready for.

We love this festival with all our hearts, and it’s very possible you may catch us there in 2023 unless any major conflicts prevent us from attending. Head In The Clouds is an amazing music festival, and even though the food from 626 Night Market was better in 2021 than 2022, we have high hopes for 2023.

PS – Please bring back fat dragon, I beg you!