As the intense drums of “bad idea right?” by Olivia Rodrigo started to echo throughout the arena, cheers erupted from fans. When the music cut out following the lyric “I know I should stop,” fans began to excitedly shout once again with the imminent arrival of pop artist Conan Gray. This track marks his stage entrance on every stop of the “Wishbone World Tour.”
On Feb. 27, Gray performed at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey as the fifth stop of the tour.
The show is broken into four acts, the first being “a wishbone never breaks even.” Gray entered the stage riding a bicycle in a navy sailor outfit. While opening with the song “My World,” he climbed onto a metal windmill during the bridge. He played a variety of upbeat songs, including a fan favorite: “Wish You Were Sober.”
During the second act, “i got the short end of the stick,” Gray changed into a set of light blue pajamas and sang an array of his more melancholy songs, including “Class Clown,” “The Cut that Always Bleeds” and “Eleven Eleven.” During one of his most well-known songs, “People Watching,” he descended from the stage to walk among fans through the barricade, high-fiving concert-goers as he walked past.
Following the second act, Gray performed a section called “Conan’s Campfire,” where he plays an acoustic version of a song typically not on the tour’s set list. At the Prudential Center, Gray sang “Footnote” from his second album, “Superache.”
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Gray pointing to the audience while singing “Romeo.”
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Gray singing his song “Nauseous” while surrounded by clouds of green smoke.
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Gray during his “Conan’s Campfire” segment, performing an acoustic version of his song “Footnote.”
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Gray breaking the wishbone with a fan named Ethan who was dressed up as the Grinch.
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Gray performing his song “Connell” during the third act.
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A view of the crowd while Gray performs his encore.
The beginning of the third act, “i took the long way to realization,” started with an interlude of a recorded conversation between two characters, Wilson and Brando. They were featured in several music videos from Gray’s most recent album. When Gray returned to stage in a pirate-like costume, he played an unreleased track, “The Best.” He has played the song at every stop of the tour thus far, as well as his most famous song, “Heather.”
During the third act there is a surprise song. A fan is chosen to break a wishbone with Gray, and whoever gets the longer end of the wishbone gets to choose between two songs that Gray doesn’t normally play on tour. That night, the choices were between “Astronomy” and “Lookalike.”
Gray ended up getting the longer end of the wishbone, but he still allowed the fan to pick the song; they chose “Lookalike.”
The fourth and final act, “i wished for love, and i found it,” included a few of his songs that depicted his experiences with love. During the song “Maniac,” Gray introduced his all-female band to the audience.
Despite finishing his final act, Gray performed an encore in a sparkling costume resembling a marching band uniform. Here, Gray finished off the show with his songs “Memories” and “Caramel,” wrapping up his show as credits rolled on the screen behind him.
As a longtime fan of Gray, I was ecstatic to see him perform some of my all-time favorite songs. The energy of both his music and the crowd kept the show pumping throughout the entire night, which was an amazing experience.
The “Wishbone World Tour” is staying in the U.S. until March 20, and international shows will kick off at the beginning of May. Dates for the tour can be found on Gray’s official website.
