The Star on the Franklin Mountains will shine light blue on Friday, a rare custom color change arranged to honor global superstar Karol G as she brings two sold-out nights of her tour to UTEP's Sun Bowl Stadium. The 459-foot landmark, visible across much of the borderplex, will glow in the singer's honor as fans from across the region converge on El Paso for the shows.
The lighting is being organized by Live Nation and the El Paso Chamber, according to KFOX, which first reported the tribute. The Chamber, founded in 1899 and known as the unifying voice of the borderplex business community, focuses on economic development and innovation, public policy and government relations, and infrastructure and transportation across the region. It describes the illumination as a celebration of Karol G's two-night El Paso engagement, and the station reports that residents and fans will be able to watch the lighting live online through the Chamber's Star Lighters program.
Karol G's Viajando Por El Mundo Tropitour lands at Sun Bowl Stadium for back-to-back performances on Saturday and Sunday, at a venue with a seating capacity of roughly 46,000 to 51,500, according to UTEP Miners. Hoodline previously reported on the initial Sun Bowl booking when tickets first went on sale.
A Landmark Built for Big Moments
The star's ability to shift into a full spectrum of colors is thanks to a $300,000 renovation that outfitted the historic display with individually controlled LED bulbs, according to 93.1 KISS FM. That upgrade turned what began in 1940 as a temporary 50-foot Christmas decoration built by the El Paso Electric Company into a modern civic symbol capable of custom tributes. The star was created to promote peace during the holiday season, and it has carried that symbolic weight for 85 years, per Wikipedia.
Since its permanent reconstruction in 1946, the star has measured 459 feet tall by 278 feet wide, featuring 459 light bulbs set at a 30-degree angle on the south face of the Franklin Mountains. Positioned about 300 feet above Scenic Drive, it is visible from the ground at distances up to 30 miles and from the air up to 100 miles away, according to Texas Highways, with pilots frequently using it for aerial orientation.
Custom color displays are not handed out casually. The El Paso Chamber manages special lighting requests through its Star Lighters program, and organizers must request a custom evening color at least seven days in advance to guarantee an exclusive display, per the El Paso Chamber. Historically, the star has also been kept illuminated continuously through major national and civic events, staying lit for 444 days during the 1980-1981 Iran hostage crisis and for over a year during the 1990-1991 Gulf War as a show of community support for Fort Bliss and military personnel.
Why El Paso Is Rolling Out the Blue Carpet
The tribute recognizes the excitement surrounding Karol G's shows and highlights El Paso's growing presence as a major live-entertainment destination. Sun Bowl Stadium, carved directly into the Franklin Mountains bedrock in 1963, has increasingly become a stop for major international stadium tours in 2025 and 2026, having hosted acts including Coldplay, BTS, and Post Malone, according to the coffee spot 915.
Karol G arrives in El Paso fresh off a record-setting run. Her June 2025 album Tropicoqueta debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Latin Albums chart, marking her fourth consecutive chart-topping Latin album and generating more than 74 million first-week U.S. streams, per Billboard. Her previous Mañana Será Bonito World Tour grossed over $300 million across 62 shows and sold more than 2.3 million tickets worldwide, making it the second highest-grossing Latin tour in history behind only Bad Bunny, according to Levi's Stadium.
The El Paso stop follows Karol G's three-night SoFi Stadium run in California earlier this summer, part of the same Viajando Por El Mundo Tropitour that has turned stadiums across the country into two-night sellouts. For El Paso, lighting up its most recognizable landmark in Karol G's honor is both a nod to civic tradition and a signal of the city's rising profile on the touring circuit.
