Conan Gray Celebrates His Idle Town in Fort Worth Show of the Wishbone World Tour

RIYL: Olivia Rodrigo, Wallows, Clairo, Ricky Montgomery

Photo from @conangray on Instagram, photo by: Dillon Matthew

I want to start off this review by letting my story speak for itself. I was a casual Conan fan at the release of Wishbone and going into this show. I listened to his songs that were popular, and I only started listening to the albums all the way through when Found Heaven came out. I never considered him to be one of my favorite artists ever and wasn't really intentionally seeking out his music when streaming.

After seeing this tour, I am obsessed. He will likely be my top artist for the year. I have done nothing but listen to his songs since leaving Dickies Arena. I do not have a single critique coming out of this show.

I usually don't talk about the lead up into shows often, because most queues are the same. Everyone is tired from waiting in lines for so long, ready to get inside and see the artist, a lot of emotions are built up and sometimes can cause some tension. However, I need to give kudos where kudos is deserved, both on the part of the Dickies Arena staff and North Texas Coneheads. (Conehead is the name for Conan Gray fans). The staff were so communicative and helpful, giving directions from the moment you stepped foot onto the venue property, and genuinely just some of the nicest people I've met. They were inquisitive about who was playing and what songs they should listen to from him. It's rare to see venue staff who care so deeply for the fans, and I think that went a long way.

Separately, Coneheads are some of the most respectful and kind fans I've seen... maybe ever. I was talking to so many fans, interviewing them, and just listening in on how they interacted with each other in line and in the venue. I did not hear a single negative interaction the entire time I was in the venue. Everyone was so helpful to one another, complimenting outfits, doing Tiktoks together, and sharing bracelets and trinkets that they made. (Side note here: I love the inclusion of photo cards in fan culture recently, so cute!) Despite the fanbase ranging on the younger side, they were so polite and kind and I just want to highlight this because it was so so so refreshing to see.

Getting into the actual show, Australian artist Esha Tewari opened with a two person band behind her. I was so pleasantly surprised by how well she meshed with the fanbase. I feel like often times, the opener's set can feel a little empty with everyone still trickling in after doors open. Esha really gathered her own here, though. The arena was mostly full by the time her set started, and a lot of the fans seemed to be participating in her set, either by watching and taking videos, or even singing along to the songs. Her song "Beautiful Boy" even caused a chorus of cheers as the opening melody played. She handled the size of the stage and the crowd beautifully, making her way across the whole audience with her movements and gaze throughout the show. She even made an active effort to connect with the local crowd, with comments like "Go Cowboys" and "Howdy y'all!".

As soon as Conan came onstage, you could tell that this show was going to be so much fun; he literally enters the stage riding a bicycle. I don't think I've heard fans scream so loud before, they definitely showed up for him. He spent the next hour and a half bouncing around the stage, interacting with fans, and smiling more than I think I've ever seen an artist smile while performing. You can tell just by being in that room that he genuinely cares about his music and what he's writing about, about his fans, and loves being on that stage.

During a song from his latest album, Eleven Eleven, fans set up a fan project, prompting fans to use an app to light up their phone screen in various shades of blue while Conan was singing. The results were absolutely beautiful. While not everyone saw the fan project, the crowd lit up in various shades of blue, as well as white phone flashlights, setting the whole arena aglow. This was one of the many times during the night that Conan looked incredibly emotional and in disbelief during the evening.

For more casual fans reading, or those who may not know, Conan is originally from Texas. This Fort Worth show was the first home state stop on the tour, so fans expected some silly surprises from him, as well as endless nods to his home and memories from childhood. He did talk about eating brisket earlier in the day on white bread and following it up with banana pudding (this is like the most Texas thing ever, in case you were wondering).

One of the biggest surprises from the home state show came in the form of the campfire song. There are two surprise song sections on the setlist. The first section was designated by Conan as "Conan's Campfire" (well named, as he plays a song acoustically around a campfire at the end of one side of the wishbone walkways). He took a moment to reference his hometown here, talking about how he got his start and then nodding to the surprise song being the deepest of deep cuts. And boy was he right. He starts playing the melody to "Idle Town", the first song he ever released. This was in 2017 before he was signed to a label, a self released track that blew up via his Youtube channel, where he used to vlog and make videos for fans. Once again, the fans really showed up here. The amount of screaming I heard was unmatched. It seemed like everyone in the venue knew the words, which is crazy for it to be his oldest song. I think fans were a little shocked at him playing that, in the best way possible. This was also the second of many times I saw Conan look incredibly emotional and in awe of the crowd this night.

The second surprise song section of the evening came in the form of breaking the wishbone with a fan. This comes from the title of his latest album, and the title of the tour, Wishbone. It's referenced several times throughout the show, and in lyrics of songs, as a reminder that in relationships and breakups, there will be a person who gets out free and gets their wish and the other person will be left with the short end of the stick. And this serves as the perfect metaphor for a bit where fans choose a surprise song. However, this show's fans were extra special and tied back into Conan's home state theme. The fans chosen to break the wishbone were the first fans in line ever at a Conan Gray show. This was so special to witness, the love that he had for these fans just radiated throughout the arena in this moment. The fans did get the bigger half of the wishbone and got to choose the song, choosing between "lookalike" and "the exit", ultimately choosing "the exit" after moments of deliberation. Fans erupted into cheers at this decision and only continued as the opening chords played.

Surprise song sections of shows are one of my favorite things to happen recently, it's such a fun and easy way for each show to be so special and different and even fans who go into the show knowing everything about it will still be surprised. It's just so cute and fun and it's been so cool to see how each artist is interpreting the bit into their show. I think Conan has had my favorite bit so far in letting the fans choose a song.

As I said in the beginning, I was a pretty casual fan going into this. I didn't connect to a lot of the songs listening to them on streaming, but that 100% changed hearing them live. The way he is able to convey the emotion and meaning of the lyrics live is truly masterful. Even songs where the vibe was dance party felt so real and raw and vivid live. He does an incredible job at painting a masterpiece for fans with each song in the set, it was just an unbelievable and rare feeling to have coming out of the show. One song in particular, "Family Line", was so incredibly beautiful. He lighting designer deserves kudos here as well because Conan looked absolutely ethereal. He gained at least one new fan last night, and I have a sneaking suspicion that I wasn't the only one. Hearing these songs live, and hearing fans scream the words around you, and being able to scream a few yourself is a life changing experience that I will be recommending to absolutely everyone now.

Overall, I think this is one of my favorite shows I've ever been to and seeing him on every tour is now at the top of my bucket list. If your state is still up on the list, please go grab a ticket right now, I promise you won't regret it.

You can listen to Conan below or anywhere you stream music.

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