Elliot Hilden, co-executive editor

If you know me, you know I will find any excuse to talk about one of my favorite artists of all time, Conan Gray, and this article is no different. Recently, I had the opportunity to see Gray at the opening performance of his “Wishbone World Tour.”

From the moment Gray arrived on stage, I was enamored with his stage presence and vitality. There was not one moment of the nearly three-hour performance that left me feeling anything less than awe. The concert was broken up into five acts, with a special “campfire acoustic” section, and a two-song encore at the end featuring the songs “Memories” and “Caramel.”

He opened the show in possibly the most iconic way: riding a bike live onstage, waving to the audience before performing “My World.” Throughout the performance, my technical theater heart was absolutely captivated because the set design was fairly simple, but the ability for the technicians to move things on and off the stage without being detected was incredibly impressive. The stage was made up to look somewhat like a field, with tall grass and a large backdrop screen that projected different sky visuals depending on the song. The stage itself was made up of a large rectangular main section, with two thin arms branching off in a wishbone shape. At various points throughout the night, the stage gained and lost set pieces as needed, including a bed, clouds, a boat and a campfire. 

To close out the second act, Gray sat at the campfire to play a song on acoustic guitar. He stated that he wanted the chance to play songs that he does not always get to play, so he is utilizing the campfire section to do that. At this show, he played “The Story,” a song that he has performed on every tour since he released it on his debut album “Kid Krow.” The song was incredibly beautiful to witness, but I think the even more beautiful part of the campfire section was what occurred before the song started. Gray took the time to mention that the ongoing ICE presence in Minneapolis is “absolutely disgusting and horrifying,” while also thanking the immigrants and children of immigrants for “making America what it is.”

Later on in the show, he included the “wishbone song” section, a part of each show where he presents two song options, then picks an audience member to break a wishbone with. The winner then chooses which song Gray will sing. The two choices at our show were “Lookalike” and “Sunset Tower,” which I personally believe are both unreal options, with “Lookalike” winning the choice. I was incredibly excited to hear the song live, as it was part of Gray’s debut Extended Play (EP) “Sunset Season” and was not on the set list during “Found Heaven on Tour.” 

While the entire show was immaculate, the standout performance of the night absolutely had to be when Gray debuted a brand-new song, titled “The Best.” Call it recency bias, but “The Best” may very well be, as the name implies, “The Best” song Gray has ever written. The song features Gray talking about a past relationship that ended explosively as he tells that past lover that he thinks they could get closure if they saw each other again now, stating that he “could make peace with it, finally sleep with it / Finally wish you the best.” 

Gray is one of the best live performers I have ever had the pleasure of seeing, and I can not wait for him to put out more music and be back in Minneapolis for the next tour. If you are ever given the chance to see him perform, I will ALWAYS recommend that you take it (and bring me along!).