It’s incredible to say that you have witnessed an artist’s growth over the years, as you saw them performing on a limited stage to transforming the same arena eleven years later with elaborate stage production, high energy crowd participation, and a catalogue of hits! I was fortunate enough to see J Balvin again after so many years last week, and wanted to write my review of the show and my experience, if you plan on seeing him in an upcoming show on this tour! See below for more info and pics from the show as well as some I have already posted on my social media (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook), and don’t forget to follow as I will be posting more concert/music content! For a preview of what to expect, watch the video below!
About
J Balvin is a Latin Grammy award-winning artist who is credited as being the Prince of Reggaeton, which makes sense as he is a crucial reason for making Reggaeton mainstream and popular globally. Reggaeton is a genre of music that consists of elements of dancehall, hip hop, Latin American, and Caribbean music, and often has a more chill vibe that has its own regional scenes, such as Panama, Colombia, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. Don’t get me wrong, I remember first hearing about reggaeton through artists such as Daddy Yankee and Tego Calderon, but J Balvin was the artist that made me actually get into it, which I appreciate. J Balvin has established himself as a global star and has collaborated with so many different popular artists, but it’s because he has made a name for himself throughout the years. I remember in 2014, I first heard of his song “Ay Vamos” and I knew only one other person, a girl in my Spanish class, who knew it too. I also happened to hear him perform this live a few months later when he opened for Pitbull and Enrique Iglesias. It was interesting because I think he performed Ay Vamos twice at the time, but now he has such an extensive and impressive catalog of hits that you won’t get tired of! Although I enjoyed all his albums, my favourite is Colores because of how he was able to create an entire album full of songs named after colours (except one for the rainbow). Fun fact: One of his songs from the album, Azul, started to trend recently, and he even did the dance challenge while performing it at this concert, which you can see below!
Tickets and Venue
As mentioned earlier this concert took place at Scotiabank Arena, where I have seen other artists such as Burna Boy, Fall out Boy, Ateez (who he connected with at Coachella last year), which is located at 40 Bay Street, and is very accessible via public transit (TTC or GO) with several parking options nearby. J Balvin performed in Montreal the night before and headed to New Jersey after Toronto. I was watching the ticket sales because I did see plenty of seats available leading up to the concert, and was curious to see if the prices would lower and if I could get someone to go with me. I initially saw a BOGO deal, I believe for International Women’s Day, which might have been the best deal because Scotiabank did promote a 24-hour-only sale, but people in the comments noted that Scotiabank Arena increased the prices of the original tickets. I was also requesting if I could cover this concert to help promote it, but I never got a response from the promotion company. Nonetheless, I am still a fan and I ended up buying my tickets at 7:20 p.m. and the concert is supposed to start at 8 p.m… I know it was really late, but I wasn’t sure if I could go and if I would have someone to go with me, but thankfully it worked out. The tickets were a bit cheaper than what I saw before, but not significantly, as it was $115 CAD each for section 106 in the lower rows. It was a similar view to NCT 127 but cheaper, and it came with a great view of the main stage as well as the second stage, as J Balvin performed so close to us. It’s unfortunate that ticket prices become slightly more affordable the day of, and I wish that could be able to changed so more people can attend, but it looks like most people also got tickets last minute and came in around the same time as J Balvin posted that the concert was sold out. Personally, I prefer sitting in the section 100s as I have experience sitting in the different sections, but this is my favourite for optimal view and space. TIP: Although this was an impulsive buy, I did use Rakuten for some cash back and you can use my referral to get some next time as well.
Merchandise
As mentioned above, I did get my tickets really late, so I went to the venue later than usual so I knew I would have limited time to check out the merch. I found the merch was a bit limited, and it only looked like a few spots were selling it, so there was a really long wait. As you will see in my recap video, I did wear his Air Jordan 1 collaboration sneakers “Colores Y Vibras” and his “Rojo” t-shirt in collaboration with Japanese artist, Takashi Murakami. I did manage to take a pic and tip: if you are at the venue, make sure to download the Scotiabank app ahead of time and sync your Ticketmaster account so you can order merch from the app and pick it up at a designated area. The only downside about this is that, unfortunately, not all merchandise is available through the app, but sometimes there are exclusives like Usher had.
Production and Storytelling
I have to write a separate section just for the production and story level of the concert. J Balvin truly went all out, and I can see why ticket prices were a bit higher. He had two different stages that he performed on, but he came out with his custom Rayo car and a giant head, giant hand, and amazing visual effects as he transitioned to different parts of his tour. The lighting and subtle colours, including the Colombian colours via the lights and wardrobe, were a nice touch, but I think what also helped was the different camera angles being displayed on the big screens, so everyone can enjoy.
I mention storytelling in this section because that custom Rayo car is the name J Balvin gave it, and was created in partnership with YouTube Juca to transform a 1997 Volkswagen Golf, a car his dad helped him get to tour Colombia so he can perform reggaeton and sell CDs out of. J Balvin even stated, “Rayo was the name of my car, and we paved a road that didn’t exist yet.” The car is an amazing prop and has been customized in a beautiful chrome finish, but also symbolizes the start of his music journey and the start of the concert, and ultimately helps him navigate throughout different stages of his career. I would recommend checking out DS18.com to learn more about Rayo, but I will say that I love how essentially Rayo is his DeLorean, and at the final encore stage, he even wore a jacket that looked like Marty McFly as he walked out with the giant robots to perform RITMO as seen below!
Performance
Although the concert was supposed to start at 8 p.m., J Balvin only went on a bit after 9 p.m., but he finished the concert at 11 p.m. and he was barely taking breaks performing his songs back to back! I do want to mention that he did have a DJ opening up for him and she did her best to keep people hyped but something I think was so awesome and something I don’t see often is that during the DJ set he had a video about his philanthropy work and encouraged fans to scan the QR code to support while enjoying a reward. I love this because I have never seen an artist do that where they are promoting special items in hopes of helping others. Which makes sense because when Beyonce remixed his song “Mi Gente” which is an anthem in my opinion, and seen via the video below (that J Balvin liked), the proceeds were donated to hurricane relief charities for Puerto Rico, Mexico, and other affected Caribbean islands.
Back to the performance, J Balvin came out with great energy and maintained it throughout his entire set. He was singing live and was engaging with the fans. He only took one small speaking break where the only English he spoke at the concert was to say, “It doesn’t matter if you don’t know Spanish, as long as you have a good time and enjoy the vibes,” or something like that. It was also awesome to see so many Latinos from different countries of origin in Toronto because it’s not something I see often! J Balvin also brought some fans on stage to dance with as well as hugged a few when he walked through the crowd during the second half of the concert, including walking by a baby! He kept taking in the crowd, and you can tell he was appreciative of the energy, and of course, with reggaeton, you can expect some intimate dancing from the background dancers, but it didn’t take away from the music. Also, J Balvin had about six background dancers, a DJ, and a background singer/hype man who assisted with the overall performance. There are some breaks in between for the video to play that features flashbacks of J Balvin from a young age to now, as well as intriguing futuristic animations that helped the storytelling.
Overall
What can I say, to see J Balvin near the beginning of his career with a limited setlist and stage to now filling up the arena with fans across the world, including my home of Toronto, is truly special. As a fan of music and a fan of J Balvin, it’s amazing to see the growth and impact. It’s inspiring and feels good, plus it was nice to see so many different people I don’t see often at and hoping to connect with more people after this. This is my first ever full reggaeton concert, and it was fun! Hopefully, I can attend more in the future and one day get to interview J Balvin for CHIP Conversations. Let me know your thoughts if you attended or if you plan on seeing his show soon in the comments below or on social media (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook) as I post more concert/music content!