Conan Gray Turns Heartbreak Into Theatre on the Wishbone World Tour
At Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Gray delivered a carefully staged, emotionally open performance that moved from nautical spectacle to campfire intimacy.
By Ainsley Mura
On Tuesday night, Conan Gray made an endearing entrance into the Australian leg of his Wishbone World Tour, taking centre stage at Brisbane Entertainment Centre before an audience ready to surrender to every heartbreak.
With four studio albums behind him, Gray’s evolution from YouTube singer-songwriter to arena-filling pop star feels complete. His devoted fans, affectionately known as “Coneheads”, arrived in pirate and sailor costumes inspired by the album’s nautical aesthetic. Beneath thousands of hats, the anticipation was unmistakable.
Australian singer-songwriter Esha Tewari opened the evening with a confident set of original material. Performing before an already packed venue, the 20-year-old more than held her own, her indie-folk sound occasionally spilling into a delicious strain of pop-rock.
Between sets, the pre-show playlist kept the energy high with pop classics including Madonna’s “Hung Up”, the Spice Girls’ “Wannabe” and Britney Spears’ “Toxic”. The night properly ignited with a nod to Gray’s close friend Olivia Rodrigo. When “Bad Idea Right?” began playing, the crowd erupted. Cutting the song immediately after thousands of voices sang “I know I should stop” proved a wickedly effective way to begin the show.
“A wishbone never breaks evenly” appeared across a black screen before Gray rode into view atop a vintage bicycle, dressed in a striking sailor outfit. He opened Act I with “My World” from Wishbone, bounding across a stage that resembled a dreamlike version of Kansas from The Wizard of Oz.
“Never Ending Song”, from 2024’s Found Heaven, raised the energy before the crowd joined Gray in belting out “Care”. The first act closed with “Wish You Were Sober”, a standout from his debut album, Kid Krow.
Gray then traded the sailor suit for bedazzled pyjamas. As “I got the short end of the stick” appeared behind a bank of oversized clouds, the show moved into a more subdued and emotionally exposed second act.
“Class Clown” set the tone, followed by “People Watching”, “The Cut That Always Bleeds” and “Eleven Eleven”. The production became less about spectacle and more about the direct connection between artist and audience. By the time Gray reached the haunting “Nauseous”, every word was being sung back to him.
The arena then transformed into “Conan’s Campfire” for an acoustic rendition of “Moths”, a song fans had been loudly requesting and speculating about online before the Brisbane show.
“I took the long way to realisation” introduced Act III. Wearing an opulent pirate-inspired outfit, Gray steadily rebuilt the momentum with “Romeo” and “The Best” before carrying a wishbone-decorated acoustic guitar to centre stage.
For one of the tour’s traditions, a fan was selected to break the wishbone and choose between “Door” and “Sunset Tower”. After teasing the crowd, they selected “Door”, deciding the next destination on Gray’s carefully mapped emotional journey.
A stripped-back “lost verse” version of “Heather” followed, accompanied by Gray’s guitar and the backing vocals of nearly everyone in the room. He then tore through “Family Line” and “Connell” with growing assurance.
Gray’s all-women band was exceptional throughout, bringing muscle and texture to the production through guitars, bass, drums and keyboards. The addition of violin and cello gave the evening its most intimate musical colours, allowing the arrangements to move naturally between arena pop and something far more fragile.
“I wished for love, and I found it” guided the audience into Act IV. Gray performed “Actor”, the free-spirited “Maniac” and the achingly popular “Vodka Cranberry”, which he announced as the final song of the night.
Real Coneheads knew better.
Gray returned in a rhinestone-covered captain’s outfit, glittering brightly enough to challenge Taylor Swift’s famous “The Man” jacket from the Eras Tour. The encore paired “Memories” with “Caramel”, sending the audience home on a note of hard-earned release.
Across four theatrical acts, Gray traced a clear story of insecurity, emotional growth and lost love, all drawn from a summer he still appears to be living through. For all the scale of the production, his greatest strength remained his ability to make an arena feel like a bedroom confession.
Gray left the room caught between two impulses: to stand perfectly still and listen with its whole heart, or to pour every buried emotion back at him.
It was difficult to imagine a more rewarding choice.