Ethan Doyle
With the end of the Wishbone World Tour looming, I had a chance to attend singer-songwriter Conan Gray’s second-to-last night of the tour. Conan Gray, an American singer-songwriter who was recognized as one of TIME magazine’s influential rising stars for 2026, has released three studio albums spanning genres such as indie pop, pop rock, alt pop, and bedroom pop. His indie pop records include his debut studio album Kid Krow (2020) and sophomore album Superache (2022), while his third studio album Found Heaven (2024) explores the genre of ‘80s synth pop. His most popular song, “Heather,” was a global mainstream success and was released on his debut album Kid Krow, which also featured another international hit, “Maniac.” Most recently, he returned to his indie pop roots with Wishbone (2025), an album about feeling like you always get the short end of the stick in life.
Wishbone explores themes of love and the realities of heartbreak and rejection. The album consists of three important singles, “This Song,” “Vodka Cranberry,” and “Caramel,” which resulted in a music video trilogy spanning the three songs. The trilogy follows the romantic connection between characters Wilson and Brando. Wilson (Conan Gray) and Brando (Corey Fogelmanis) begin their relationship in the music video for “This Song,” which introduces the romantic connection along with the excitement of finding that person. “Vodka Cranberry” serves as the most popular song on the Wishbone album and is the next part of the trilogy, which introduces the challenges and the emotional tension that develop throughout the relationship. Lastly, the final single, “Caramel,” shows the relationship growing more difficult as the two struggle with expressing their romance publicly, highlighting some challenges that can be prevalent in queer relationships.
This particular stop of the tour took place on Monday, October 5, at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre in Adelaide, South Australia. Through the years, Conan Gray has toured Australia three times, each corresponding with one of his albums (Superache, Found Heaven, and Wishbone). Gray’s creativity shines through this world tour as he breaks the show down into four main acts as well as an encore, each providing a new theme, new outfits, and a selection of songs. Through each interlude, Gray narrates the story behind the show’s four separate acts: act one, “a wishbone never breaks even,” act two, “I got the short end of the stick,” act three, “I took the long way to realization,” and act four, “I wished for love and I found it.”
Conan teases the start of the show as the lights dim and the speakers turn up, while his best friend Olivia Rodrigo’s hit song “bad idea right?” begins playing as the final track on the pre-show playlist. As the second verse finishes, the venue turns pitch black, the blue lights flicker, and the visuals on screen begin introducing you to “The Wishbone World Tour.” As the visual plays, the first act, “a wishbone never breaks even,” begins, with Gray riding in on a bicycle in his sailor outfit as he begins to sing a fan favorite from the 2025 studio album, Wishbone, “My World.” He follows it with “Never Ending Song,” “Care,” and another one of his hit singles, “Wish You Were Sober,” from his debut album.
Act 2 begins with Conan changing out of his sailor clothes to reveal his pajamas underneath as he lies on his bed, which is center stage. He begins to sing the emotional pop ballad “Class Clown,” which explores the feeling of hiding your pain behind humor while acting like everything is okay. While keeping the mood light, it shows the loneliness that can be found behind the laughs. As Gray finishes the song, he transitions into a fan favorite, and one of my personal favorites, “People Watching,” a single from his sophomore album. He ends the song by walking along the barricade and standing over the crowd, where he receives love and praise from fans as they sing “I feel love emotion.” This was one of my personal favorite moments from the show, as it caused the crowd to come together. He follows these songs up with “The Cut That Always Bleeds,” “Eleven Eleven,” and “Nauseous,” which all follow the same somber themes of this act. The act ends with the campfire surprise song. As fans await Gray’s choice, he talks about how he has “put off singing this song” as it has a guitar solo that is impossible for him to replicate in an acoustic manner. He asks the crowd to “sing the guitar solo” for him. The song that he performs is fan favorite “Jigsaw” from his album Superache. The last time the song had been performed was at the Found Heaven Tour, which meant that this was the song’s first performance on the Wishbone World Tour.
As the show moves into the third act, Conan appears in a maroon Shakespearean-themed outfit and begins singing “Romeo.” He then sings the lead single off the Wishbone Deluxe, “The Best,” which he debuted at the first show of the Wishbone World Tour. Gray then proceeds to the second surprise song section of the evening, the Wishbone Break segment. During this section, Conan chooses one lucky fan to challenge to a wishbone break. Whoever gets the short end of the stick loses, while the winner gets to choose between the surprise song options provided. For the second-to-last show of the tour, the choices were “The Exit” and “Yours,” both songs from his sophomore album. The song chosen was “Yours.” After this came my favorite part of the show; most fans in the audience were given yellow pieces of paper prior to the show. During his biggest hit, “Heather,” a fan project featuring yellow lights illuminates the arena. Conan recognizes the lights and exclaims his excitement at how beautiful they are.
The next two songs are two of my favorite Conan Gray songs and are arguably some of the most emotional by him; these are “Family Line” and “Connell.” Fans were shouting the lyrics to “Family Line,” a vulnerable ballad about Gray’s childhood struggles with abuse and trauma involving his father. Through the shouting, you could see just how much this song meant to audience members as well as how it resonates with so many.
The final act, “I wished for love and I found it,” begins with “Actor,” the opening track of the Wishbone album. He then follows it up with two more of his most-streamed songs, “Maniac” from his debut album Kid Krow, and “Vodka Cranberry” from his latest studio album. The crowd holds their excitement as Conan hits the popular high note in “Vodka Cranberry” before erupting in appreciation for his vocal ability. The show ends with Conan sarcastically hinting that there’s “definitely not an encore” incoming, as he has on past tours. But of course, there is in fact an encore. He returns to the stage in a rhinestone-covered captain-style military suit and performs “Memories.” As he finishes “Memories,” he goes into the final song of the night, “Caramel.” As the crowd jumps and sings along, Gray’s videographer zooms around the back of the pit, recording the fans singing and jumping together. This footage may be used in a future documentary or concert film. The last chorus hits, and the confetti is blasted throughout the arena as Conan sings. As he finishes the show, he expresses his gratitude and wishes all fans in the arena a safe return home. Overall, Conan Gray’s vocal ability and creativity ensure a fantastic live show, and I highly advise seeing him on his next tour, which is hopefully not too far away.
