Conan Gray’s concert for his recent album, Wishbone, took place at the Houston Toyota Center on March 11. The album, released on August 15, 2025, broke several records within his career. Some of these records include the album’s debut at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart, Gray’s highest charting album on the Billboard 200, landing at No. 3, and achieving a total of over 8.4 million streams within the first 24 hours of its release. The record also consisted of songs such as the fan-favorite single, Vodka Cranberry. Exploding in popularity, the song cemented Gray into mainstream pop, leading him to perform at award shows such as the VMAs and festivals like the Reading and Leeds festival last year.
Most, if not all, of the attendees of the concert were dressed in theme. Sailor outfits were commonly worn among fans, as well as pajamas, in reference to the different variations of album covers released. It was exceptionally interesting to see the thousands of people, all from different backgrounds, express their support through their appearance. Subtle nods to not only this album, but past projects could be seen at every corner.
Before performing himself, Gray’s opening performance, Australian indie-folk and pop singer Esha Tewari, took the stage to play some of her most popular hits. With songs like Empty Pages, In Twos, and About Me, Tewari’s set was short and sweet, but definitely a performance to remember.
Gray made his entrance onto the stage shortly after, riding in on a bicycle and performing the song My World off Wishbone, setting a dream-like tone for the rest of the show. Gray then performed more upbeat songs such as Care and Never Ending Song.
After some theatrics of falling asleep on stage, Gray transitioned into Act 2 of the show. With songs like People Watchingand The Cut That Always Bleeds, Gray paid homage to some of his older hits that popularized him several years ago. He then performed what can undoubtedly be considered one of his saddest but most earnest songs to date, Nauseous. This song holds a special place in many fans’ hearts for being so relatable. Before the concert began, fans gave out signs in the shape of hearts that said “We love you out loud!” as a reference to a lyric in the song. During the song, fans held up their signs as well as small red paper over the flashlights on their phone.
After exiting, a small bonfire was set up on one end of the stage. The Campfire Song is definitely one of the most notable moments throughout every show. During this part of the show, Gray performs an acoustic version of a song that is not on the setlist. For the Houston show, Gray played one of the very first songs he released in his career, called The Other Side.
“It’s a song that I wrote many, many, many years ago, and [the song] means the world to me, and I think this song asks a question, and tonight I feel like I know the answer to this question,” Gray said, introducing the song.
Seeing as he wrote the song while still in high school in his small town just outside of Austin, fans felt like the song was the perfect choice for the night. “I was really hoping for the surprise song he’d sing Fight Or Flight because that was one of my favorite songs on his debut album,” freshman Bella Osteem said. “But he ended up singing The Other Side which was a huge surprise, and I really loved it.”
He then transitioned to a new song of his called The Best. Although the track is unreleased and had only been performed for the first time about a month ago, many fans were heard screaming every lyric. The addition of an unreleased song to the setlist begs the question for many listeners about whether or not we will be getting another album from Gray in continuation of the Wishbone era.
“There’s a new song that he hasn’t released yet that he’s only sang in concert, and I’ve only heard small clips of it on TikTok, so I wanted to hear the full song in real life.” One fan said.
Gray often interacts with fans during his concerts, not only for this tour but also for past tours as well. One tradition throughout the Wishbone Tour is the breaking of the wishbone. Gray will break a wishbone with a fan at each show; whoever gets the longer end will get to choose the next song between two options. At the Houston show, the song choices were between Yours and The Exit, both off his second studio album, Superache. The song chosen for the night was The Exit.
Later in the show, Gray’s performance of songs like Connell and Family Line quickly shifted the overall mood in the stadium. These songs seem to really resonate with listeners for being so personal and specific yet relatable. He also performed his most well-known song, ” Heather, ” with over 2 billion streams, including the original verse that got cut from the song upon release, but was then released as of March 2025.
The final act of the show consisted of the songs Vodka Cranberry, Actor, and Maniac. After a short intermission, Gray took the stage for the encore, ending the show with his viral song, Memories, and the fan-favorite song Caramel.
After the show, fans were asked about their favorite part of the experience.
“He played all the songs I was hoping for, so I was happy about that. My favorite part was towards the end when he played songs like Maniac, Vodka Cranberry, and Memories.” Freshman Jocelyn Fox said. “Overall, I thought it was a really good show; my voice was gone after it.”
“My favorite part of the concert was probably the whole set for his song Eleven Eleven because it was so pretty and sparkly and just angelic. Even though it’s not my favorite song, I loved everything about it, especially Conan’s outfit with his sparkly pants and everybody flashing their flashlights, which made the concert look like I’m in space.” Sophomore Morgan McQueen said.
