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!”

Photo by: Gaby Deimeke

“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.”

The unique stage design also included two lines of Chauvet PXL Curves down the center of the stage. “These were used to create a 'shaft' of light that joins the top portion of the design to the bottom,” Tomlinson continued. “We also have a grated central section in the stage that has JDC 1's beneath it.”

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’s scope of work on Back to the Rayo included lighting, cameras, media servers, audio and comms, as well as crew support across the tour.

LIGHTING

PRG supplied over 240 lighting fixtures, all controlled via a GrandMA3 console managing nearly 30,000 parameters. As previously mentioned, the Chauvet PXL Curves ran along the custom “spline” rig—but in addition to those, 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.

CAMERA

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.

AUDIO & COMMS

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.

With decades of experience and a deep-rooted presence in the live production industry, PRG is uniquely equipped to support productions of this scale.

“What stands out most is their 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.”

Want to see more from Back to the Rayo? Check out PRG’s exclusive look behind the scenes in our sizzle video below.

Learn more about our global touring capabilities at PRG.com or connect with our team to start planning your next production.

PERFORMERS
José Álvaro Osorio Balvin – J BALVIN
José David Rivera Mazo – DJ POPE
Luis Ángel O’Neill - O'NEILL
Riley Groot – Dance Captain
Deirdre Barnes – Dancer
Chloe Bunce – Dancer
Autumn Miller – Dancer
Isaac Bradley – Dancer
Alex Navarro Collins - Dancer

MGMT
Roc Nation: Management
Siete Entertainment: Executive Management

CREATIVE TEAM
Ashley Evans, The Squared Division – Creative Director
Amanda Balen – Associate Creative Director
Ian Tomlinson, High Scream – Stage & Lighting Design
Andre Petrus – Lighting Programmer
Michael Hankowsky – Video Programmer
Cassie Bartho – Choreographer
SEE YOU LATER–Screen Visuals

PRODUCTION
MOTION MUSIC – Production Company
Trini Martinez – Tour Manager
Jean-Baptiste “JB” Blot, Motion Music – Production Manager
Agostina Grillo – Assistant Tour Manager
Jacquelyn Pastore, Motion Music – Production Coordinator
Matt Eaton, Motion Music – Director of Security
Wade Hinshaw – Head Rigger
Andrés Toro - Stage Manager
Alastair Bell - Assistant Stage Manager
Philip Kaikoura – LD
Tom Kirk – IMAG Director
Devin Murray – D3
Joe Spitzer, Motion Music – FOH Engineer
Hugo Pinzón – Monitor Engineer
Christopher "Winnie" Murguia, Motion Music – Playback Engineer
Lauren Doyle - Steady Cam Operator
Ericka Fergelec - Head Wardrobe
Gabrielle Deimeke – Tour Photographer
Sebastián Henao – Tour Videographer

PRG CREW CHIEFS
Errol Reinart – Lighting Crew Chief
Eric Rogers – Audio Crew Chief
Christian Medina – Camera Crew Chief

PRG CREW LIST
Mike Renault – VP Sales, Music
Geoffrey Borchgrevink - Project Manager
Luke Pritchard – Lighting TPM
Jason Swartz – Audio TPM
Daniel Monnier – Video TPM

VIDEO
Christian Medina - Video Systems Engineer

LIGHTING
Errol Reinart – Crew Chief
Michael Rinehart – Dimmer Technician
Doug Eder – Dimmer Technician
David Hernandez – Ground Control Technician
Jonathon Rice – Lighting Technician
Victor Patino-Gutierrez – Lighting Technician
Chelsea Opdyke – Lighting Technician
William Kennon- Lighting Technician

AUDIO
Eric Rogers – Crew Chief / Systems Engineer
Joshua Conaughty – Comms
Juan Medina – Monitor Tech / RF Tech
Michael Benjamin – PA Technician
Angel Romero – PA Technician