BABYMONSTER CHOOM World Tour: What to Know (Pasay City)

Mall of Asia Arena is felt before it’s seen. The complex sprawls along Manila Bay’s reclaimed waterfront in Pasay City, a wall of LED screens and shuttle buses and vendors setting up folding tables of light sticks and photocards in the days before a show. This is the arena BABYMONSTER (YG Entertainment’s newest girl group, built around members like Ruka, Ahyeon, Asa, and Pharita) was booked into on September 5, 2026, for a stop on their CHOOM World Tour, their first global run since debuting.

Why this stop mattered

Manila has become a regular fixture on K-pop world tours in part because of this arena. SM Mall of Asia Arena seats tens of thousands and had hosted a long line of K-pop acts before BABYMONSTER, so the crowd flow, merch setup, and fan-project culture there were already practiced rather than improvised. For BABYMONSTER, whose fandom (known as MONSTIEZ) had grown fast since their 2023 debut, a Manila date was a marker of how far their reach had extended in Southeast Asia within a couple of years.

Getting to SM Mall of Asia Arena

The arena sits inside the wider SM Mall of Asia complex, right on the bay, in Pasay City, next door to Metro Manila’s airport district. From the north (Makati, Ortigas, Quezon City), taxis and ride-hailing apps are the simplest option, though traffic along Roxas Boulevard and EDSA can be heavy in the hours before a big show.

Many concertgoers instead take the LRT-1 to EDSA or Taft Avenue stations and transfer to a P2P bus or taxi for the last stretch, since there’s no direct rail line into the Mall of Asia complex itself. Because the venue sits inside a mall precinct, people often come hours ahead, eat, buy merch inside the mall, and walk over, which keeps them clear of arena-adjacent traffic at the last minute.

What was planned for the night

The CHOOM World Tour setlist was expected to lean on BABYMONSTER’s sharper, dance-forward tracks alongside their more melodic singles, performed with the elaborate stage production YG tours are known for, moving platforms, pyrotechnics, and a full-length screen backdrop.

Tickets and practical planning

Ticket tiers for Manila K-pop concerts at this venue typically range from general-admission floor and lower-box seats to upper-tier seating further from the stage, with prices and on-sale dates set separately by the official ticketing partner. BABYMONSTER’s Manila date was expected to draw large crowds and international fans traveling specifically for the show, and tickets for prior K-pop concerts here had sold out within hours of release.

Tickets were sold through official ticketing outlets. Resale listings around Mall of Asia during big concert weeks are common and not guaranteed genuine.

How locals typically visit

Manila concertgoers rarely show up right at doors, they tend to treat the whole Mall of Asia complex as part of the night out, arriving three or four hours early to eat at the mall’s restaurants, browse the seaside promenade, and queue for official merchandise, which has historically sold out its early runs fast. Cash works everywhere, but tap-to-pay cards and e-wallets like GCash are widely accepted for food, transport, and merch inside the complex.

For general admission floor tickets, fans typically line up along the arena’s designated queue lanes well before doors, with arena staff (in yellow or branded vests) directing each ticket category to its line, since floor and box queues are usually separated. A common issue for first-timers is exit traffic: when a full-capacity show lets out, Roxas Boulevard and the mall’s internal roads tend to jam almost immediately.

Doors were set for 6pm

Doors for the CHOOM World Tour’s Manila leg were listed at 6pm on September 5, 2026, at SM Mall of Asia Arena.