One of the most influential Latin music artists in the world, J Balvin, hit the road in 2025 for his North American tour, Back to the Rayo. Featuring tracks from his latest album “Rayo” alongside fan-favorite hits, the tour spans 27 cities across the U.S. and Canada, culminating in a grand finale in Portland on May 17th.
With multiple chart-topping singles, Grammy nominations, and sold-out tours, J Balvin continues to push creative and technical boundaries in live performance. His shows are renowned for their vibrant aesthetics, bold lighting, and dynamic stage design, which bring his signature sound to life. The 2025 tour is set to elevate his live experience even further, utilizing innovative lighting techniques, immersive visuals, and a powerhouse team of creative and technical experts—backed by PRG.
“There’s nothing quite like it,” said Jean-Baptiste “JB” Blot, partner at MOTION MUSIC, the production company behind the tour. Blot also serves as production manager, leading the charge behind the scenes. He and MOTION MUSIC have collaborated with J Balvin since 2024, beginning with his Coachella Main Stage performance and continuing as his production team for the World Tour and subsequent live events.
“Bringing a show to life—the way the lights, sound and emotion fuse together—is the heart of why we do this,” Blot said. “Live music has a unique power to connect people and Jose channels that magic every single night.”
With the technical foundation in place, the creative direction took center stage to shape the emotional heart of the show. At the helm was Ashley Evans, Creative Director of The Squared Division, a team that has collaborated with J Balvin for over seven years, conceptualizing, scripting, and designing his live experiences.
“Both Jose and The Squared Division love big bold statement imagery.” said Evans. “We align very closely on large iconography that has a twist to it, and most of the time we like that twist to have some humor to it.”
When asked about the inspiration behind the tour’s design, he added, “The film 'Back to the Future' and the connection to the past of Jose's first car, Rayo, had a great relationship. You can really see that in our show interludes—that loosely take us back in time and then back to the future!”
“As the show's Creative Director, we curate the team we wanted to work with on this tour,” Evans explained. “Creative members that we know will see the vision. We brought on High Scream to do the stage and lighting design—they work a lot with EDM artists, amongst others—as we really wanted to bring that EDM lighting world to this show.”
Ian Tomlinson, Company Director of High Scream Ltd., added, “We wanted the stage design to reflect the energy that J Balvin has on stage. With the nature of his performances being immersive, with lots of props and show moments, we felt incorporating a video wall above and below created a captivating look to support the immersive idea.”
Powering a show of this scale doesn’t come without its challenges. It requires a dedicated team of technical experts behind the scenes, working hand-in-hand with production. From rigging complexities to an intense travel schedule, the tour demanded smart solutions.
“This tour presented some distinct challenges that PRG was instrumental in addressing,” Blot noted. “The first involved the intricate stage design specifically the need to safely and consistently suspend the LED roof, lighting spine, and LED monoliths at a fixed 10-degree angle. The second was logistical: two months of back-to-back weekend shows with tight overnight travel windows, sometimes only 6 to 8 hours between cities. To manage this, we deployed a dual-rig system for the LED roof, rigging, and lighting spine, allowing advance teams to install key elements ahead of time. Success came down to strategic planning, careful cable management, and highly organized truck packing—areas where PRG truly excelled.”
Mike Renault, VP of Sales at PRG, highlighted the depth of that relationship. “We’ve been working with J Balvin and MOTION MUSIC for a couple of years now—lighting for Coachella in 2024, audio, video and cameras for his 2024 European tour and now this year’s North American tour. We received initial designs and a rough calendar with a schedule in October. Production discussions began in January, with bi-weekly meetings for three months, right up to the first show.”
PRG supplied over 240 lighting fixtures, all controlled via a GrandMA3 console managing nearly 30,000 parameters. Chauvet PXL Curves ran along the custom “spine” rig and the show features Martin Mac ultras, GLP JDC-1s, SGM P-1s, ACME Pixel Lines and Elation Proteus Hybrids. To provide precision follow spotting throughout the show, eight PRG GroundControl® systems were deployed using Ayrton Domino TCs.
The show was captured using five Sony HDC-2500 Broadcast cameras—three equipped with Fuji 99x long lenses and two with Fuji 12x wide angle lenses—alongside three Sony FR7 PTZ Cameras. Signal switching was handled via a Ross Carbonite 2.5 ME Switcher package and processing was powered by a Disguise d3 GX3 media server.
To deliver the show’s powerful sound, PRG rolled out a full L’Acoustics system, including the newest L2 cabinets for delays, alongside K1s, K2s, KS28 subs, Kara IIs and Arcs IIs—totaling 146 speaker elements across the venue.
Communication was equally vital. PRG implemented a robust Riedel Communications system featuring 2 Artist 64 frames linked via fiber, 31 wireless Bolero belt packs, 26 wired belt packs, 5 key panels, 3 fiber-linked network switches, 9 antennas, 22 party lines, 16 point-to-points, 2 program audio inputs, and 1 production radio interfaced to the show line/show channel using an RF-over-fiber system for better coverage.
“What stands out most is PRG’s ability to deliver not just world-class gear but world-class people. While equipment is critical, it’s the crew’s experience and problem-solving that truly elevate a tour,” Blot said. “Seeing Jose’s face light up as his vision comes to life is a moment of real pride for all of us. It’s about transforming bold ideas into reality and sharing that achievement with a team that gave everything to make it happen.”
Here's an exclusive look behind the scenes. YouTube link
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