Concert Review: Conan Gray - "The Wishbone Pajama Show" in Pittsburgh, PA
- Kaitlyn Nicole
- Sep 23
- 5 min read
Growing popstar Conan Gray has recently embarked on his latest tour, "The Wishbone Pajama Show" after dropping his incredible top-selling fourth studio album, "Wishbone". As a long-time Conan Gray fan and getting to watch him finally get the recognition he deserves, there way no way I was going to miss this, and I'm so glad I didn't.
SETLIST:
[ACT I] a wishbone never breaks even
My World
Never Ending Song
Bourgeoisieses
Wish You Were Sober
[ACT II] i got the short end of the stick
Class Clown
People Watching
The Cut That Always Bleeds
Eleven Eleven
Nauseous
[ACT III] i took the long way to realization
Romeo
This Song
Surprise Song: Alley Rose
Heather
Family Line
Connell
[ACT IV] i wished for love and i found it
Actor
Maniac
Vodka Cranberry
[ENCORE]
Memories
Caramel
As only the fourth show on the entire tour, the energy was fresh and exciting. Hosted at The Petersen Event Center, the first time Conan Gray has ever made his way as a headliner in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the 12,500 people all dressed in our sailor themed pajamas and holding our vodka cranberries' were ready to show him everything we've got.
[ACT I] a wishbone never breaks even
The show was split up into four acts, plus an encore. When Conan came onto the stage, you could feel the arena fill with the brightest joy and excitement. Everyone was ready for a night of dancing, tears and laughs, and that's exactly what we all did. The stage was set in a field, with a mailbox that said "Pittsburgh, PA. 9/16/2025". Conan came on stage riding a bike in a classic sailor outfit while his all female band played the intro to "My World", a carefree song about living life openly as yourself and exactly how you should. As we should, we continued the rest of act one with upbeat, danceable songs before getting into what would be a super emotional, but healing and well-needed night.
[ACT II] i got the short end of the stick
And so the pajama party begins as they roll out clouds, a bed and a backdrop of stars. Conan has his first outfit change, coming out in a sparkly pair of striped pajamas. This is the moment where we get to sing our emotional little hearts out with some of Conan's deepest ballads like "Class Clown", "People Watching", "The Cut That Always Bleeds", "Eleven Eleven" and "Nauseous". I'm not going to lie, these songs really started to get to me during this set, but it wasn't in a bad way. It felt cathartic to get to sing these lyrics together with Conan and with 12,500 other people. The tears were shamelessly flowing.
[ACT III] i took the long way to realization
A boat comes on the stage and we take to the seven seas as Conan comes out in a gorgeous white and blue pirate blouse. We perk things up a bit with “Romeo”, and then he sings “This Song” to the crowd as if it was meant for us, pointing to each corner of the arena with the biggest smile on his face. Then, we get to the exciting moment of truth: the wishbone break with a fan in the crowd, except ours was extra special. Conan mentions that there’s a grandma in the crowd named Sandy, and it was later made known that she is a major Conan Gray fan who cried when her granddaughter got her tickets to see him. How it works is you get to break the wishbone with Conan, and if you get the long end, you get to pick out of two songs for him to play. Sandy won! And I feel like we were the luckiest crowd ever, because she picked one of the best live songs on Conan Gray’s discography, “Alley Rose”.
From there, Conan played the extended version of his hit song “Heather”, told us we are all loved when he played his trauma song “Family Line”, and then it was finally time. We got to witness the “Connell” crash out, live in real time. They brought the bed from ACT II back out, as Conan’s band was raging like we were at a metal concert. He was bending back on the bed like he had been possessed before going limp, and the stage went dark. Talk about theatrics?!
[ACT IV] i wished for love and i found it
Conan comes back out and we all lose our minds to the emotional hype of “Actor”, the opening track to the “Wishbone” album. The hype only grew when the band started to play "Maniac". Even after crying and dancing all night long, the energy was higher than it had ever been; but we all knew it was going to be over soon. Conan playfully and sarcastically announced that the next song was going to be his last, so we shouldn't expect him to come back. He gave us a wink, and he began to play the anthem we'd been waiting all night to hear - "Vodka Cranberry". Yes, I myself had a vodka cranberry in hand as I shouted the words with all 12,500 people in the arena. And yes, he hit the high note flawlessly. It was the most magical moment to witness live.
[ENCORE]
For a short moment, Conan disappeared. The arena went dark and the crowd continued to go wild. We all began to chant his name and then he finally came back in the most incredible, vibrant blue sailor captain suit with a giant wishbone on the back. We all jammed out to the classic "Memories", and as it ended, Conan bowed and tipped his hat to us, and all the emotions of the night came rushing in as the crowd cheered louder than ever and the last song of the night began to play. Conan thanked us for being there with an emotional goodbye, before singing "Caramel". The arena lit up with amber lights as we all screamed for Conan one last time.
I'm not kidding when I say, this is one of the best shows I've ever been to. The positive energy was beaming and radiating from everywhere in that arena. Even with a setlist full of sad songs, it felt like Conan was the happiest he's ever been on that stage, and he was really in his element. Getting to sing these songs in the same room with him and 12,500 other people felt like healing, and it was such a beautiful thing. He also sounded better than ever, like vocals were seriously on point. Also, getting Alley Rose as my surprise song was the best thing that could've happened, almost like it was destiny. If you don't know already, I also went to his Found Heaven tour last year and had trouble hearing, so getting to experience this song live again made up for it. Also, getting to experience Sandy Rose was probably one of the most wholesome things I've ever seen at a concert in life. It really was the most perfect night, and I wish I could do it all over again. If you have a chance to see this tour, I promise you won't regret it.
I also did a review of the full "Wishbone" album, which you can read here!
Written By Kaitlyn Nicole
*copyright not intended. Fair use act, section 107.
