Head In The Clouds Manila shares single-stage festival layout and set times, clarifies VIP ticket perks

The upcoming Manila edition of 88rising’s Head In The Clouds festival has shared set times and the festival layout of its debut event this weekend – to some criticism on social media.

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The festival announced several changes to the planned layout of the venue yesterday (December 7), opting for a single stage and delineating its general admission and VIP areas. The new layout will see just one stage shared by all performers while the Los Angeles and recent Jakarta festivals had two: the main 88rising and secondary Double Happiness stages.

The official Twitter account for Head In The Clouds said that the Double Happiness stage’s removal would “give our VIP and GA guests much more room to party”.

HITC MANILA! We heard you and we got you! 20+ live performances, now on ONE huge stage to give our VIP and GA guests much more room to party!

December 9 & 10 at SM FESTIVAL GROUNDS

Limited tickets available at https://t.co/ohn3fzJqMQ
Presented by Globe pic.twitter.com/7z4wYbttLV

— Head In The Clouds Festival (@hitcfestival) December 6, 2022

Head In The Clouds Manila has also released its list of daily set times, confirming that each changeover between artists will take between 10 to 35 minutes.

The set times for Head In The Clouds Manila are:

Friday December 9

12:30pm – Doors open
12.35pm – Jinxzhou
1.10pm – Adawa
1.45pm – Zack Tabudlo
2.30pm – Stephanie Poetri
3.10pm – Manila Grey
3.50pm – Atarashii Gakko!
4.35pm – SB19
5.15pm – Manila Killa
5.55pm – Warren Hue
6.40pm – MILLO
7.35pm – Yoasobi
8.35pm – Jessi
9.35pm – Rich Brian
11pm – Joji
12.10am – Jackson Wang

Saturday December 10

2:30pm – Doors open
2.30pm – DJ E-Man
3.05pm – Denise Julia
3.45pm – Spence Lee
4.30pm – Guapdad 4000
5.10pm – Akini Jing
5.45pm – Elephante
6.30pm – Ylona Garcia
7.20pm – August 08
8.10pm – Bibi
8.55pm – EaJ
10pm – Zedd
11.20pm – NIKI

Here are your #HITCMANILA SET TIMES Philippines, we can’t wait to see you! pic.twitter.com/C5LrUj3HTZ

— hitcmanila (@hitcmanila) December 7, 2022

The set times were a bone of contention for some, with one commenter on Head In The Clouds’ post writing: “Doors open at 12:30 and then there’s a performance immediately at 12:35. I didn’t know we were paying to take part in the Amazing Race.”

Others voiced their disappointment over the lack of a finale, which is when Head In The Clouds gathers all artists on stage on the last day of the festival to say thank you to fans.

Additionally, the festival’s decision to split VIP and General Admission zones down the middle led to complaints that there are little to no differences between the tiers. The festival then clarified that VIP ticket holders will enjoy additional benefits such as early entry, access to the GA viewing area, shaded VIP seating area, free premium merchandise, and additional food choices.

VIP ticket holders get early entry, premium viewing areas with less crowds, exclusive merchandise, and more! 2 DAYS UNTIL #HITCMANILA, SEE YOU SOON! pic.twitter.com/QIgyTTaLma

— hitcmanila (@hitcmanila) December 7, 2022

In response, some criticised the festival’s labelling of shaded seated areas as a VIP perk and “medic/emergency areas” as a “ticket benefit”.

One commenter wrote: “We’ll still have to pay for the food and drinks though, I don’t think our added 3-6k comes with food and 3-6k for shaded areas? shaded areas shouldn’t be a ‘privilege’ what exactly is the extra 3-6k for?”

Another replied: “So we should be thankful for this? This doesn’t look appealing to VIP tix holders. Make it make sense!.”

Head In The Clouds has not appeared to respond to the criticism. NME has reached out to representatives of the festival for comment on the Double Happiness stage removal and response regarding the differences between VIP and GA passes.

Head In The Clouds Manila is scheduled to take place on this Friday and Saturday December 9-10 at the SM Festival Grounds in Paranaque City, Manila. Set to perform are Rich Brian,  NIKI,  Joji,  Jackson Wang, ex-Day6 member eaJ and many more, including P-pop band SB19, Ylona Garcia and Zack Tabudlo.

The festival follows last weekend’s inaugural edition of Head In The Clouds Jakarta, which featured many of the same headlining acts alongside Indonesian metal trio Voice of Baceprot, MILLI and more.

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