{"id":53046,"date":"2026-03-01T16:46:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T21:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=53046"},"modified":"2026-03-01T16:54:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T21:54:24","slug":"conan-gray-td-garden-2-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2026\/03\/01\/conan-gray-td-garden-2-25\/","title":{"rendered":"Conan Gray @ TD Garden 2\/25"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photography by Megan Kwan<\/p>\n

Review by Kyra Papillo<\/p>\n

Conan Gray says a wishbone never breaks even, but whatever half he\u2019s been holding, it\u2019s clearly working. Headlining his new album \u201cWishbone,\u201d Gray captures the push-and-pull dynamic of getting the short end of the stick through a deeply raw and emotional story. Creating, in my opinion, his magnum opus, this artist showcased his talent at TD Garden on February 25th in a beautifully articulate fashion, highlighting the flaws and secrecy of queer relationships.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Before Conan Gray set foot on stage, the crowd was warmed up by Esha Tewari. With an instantly likable indie-folk sound, she played a set of hazy, romantic, effortlessly cool songs. Her most popular track, \u201cBeautiful Boy,\u201d pulled the audience into her melodic, ballad tone, complemented by acoustic guitar. The 19-year-old artist recently rose to prominence through her 2024 single \u201cwith ease,\u201d and she will undeniably continue to make headlines.<\/span><\/p>\n

Setting the scene with blue skies and fields of grass, Gray rode a bike onto the stage for his first act, \u201ca wishbone never breaks even,\u201d opening with \u201cMy World.\u201d Evoking the atmosphere of a teenager singing in their bedroom, he danced and twirled on stage with pure joy. He followed this with \u201cNever Ending Song\u201d from his 80s-inspired synth album \u201cFound Heaven,\u201d before bowing to the audience and declaring: \u201cBoston has always shown me such love.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The second act, “i got the short end of the stick,\u201d flickered onto the screen, alongside an outfit change into pajamas. As a bed rolled onto the stage, Gray sank into it for a performance of \u201cClass Clown.\u201d As a direct nod to his mantra of writing songs from his bed, Gray invited the audience to immerse themselves in his vulnerable, authentic creative process.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the standout moments of the night was Gray\u2019s performance of \u201cPeople Watching,\u201d a track representing the raw longing for someone out of reach. Mid-song, a fan handed him a pride flag, which he waved for the remainder of the performance, filling TD Garden with an electric and communal energy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Before the show began, audience members had been handed slips of blue paper instructing them to hold them over their phone flashlights during \u201cEleven Eleven.\u201d When the moment arrived, the room was washed in blue hues. On the big screen, the admiration on Gray\u2019s face was undeniable. This moment calls back to his early YouTube days, where he once said, \u201cselling out venues would be my dream.\u201d At this moment, it was clear his wish had come true, selling out TD Garden with a capacity of almost 20,000 seats.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In a creative shift, Gray walked out to a campfire and stool for his segment titled \u201cConan\u2019s Campfire.\u201d Here, he revealed that his favorite film was a local favorite, <\/span>Good Will Hunting<\/span><\/i>. Naturally, his surprise song of the night, \u201cMovies,\u201d followed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Emerging in a pirate-esque sailor outfit for Act III, \u201ci took the long way to realization,\u201d with a sailboat as the central set piece, the level of thought poured into this tour was impossible to ignore. Gray debuted a new song, \u201cThe Best,\u201d displaying the lyrics on screen so the audience could sing along. He then paused to invite an audience member to break a wishbone with him, a physical manifestation of his album title. Whoever got the bigger half would choose the next song. After the snap, he quickly shoved the larger piece into the fan\u2019s hand and declared, \u201cYou won!\u201d With this, the audience collectively cheered at the fan\u2019s request of \u201cSunset Tower\u201d from his headlining album.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

An emotionally charged rendition of \u201cHeather\u201d followed; this version was released as part of his fifth anniversary \u201cKid Krow, Decomposed\u201d album. As the song that launched him into stardom, the audience sang every word back to him without hesitation.<\/span><\/p>\n

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For his final act, \u201ci wished for love, and i found it,\u201d Gray closed the evening with his most gut-wrenching material, finalizing the end of a chapter. As the opening notes of \u201cVodka Cranberry\u201d began, one of my favorite songs from the new album, the audience sat to the edge of their seats. Detailing nods to the limerence stage of a breakup, the crowd clearly held this heartbreaking mantra close to their hearts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A wishbone has always been a symbol of a desire not yet granted, a longing for something that would always be out of reach. But over two hours at TD Garden, Conan Gray flipped this narrative, making a compelling case that the other side of that longing is something worth discovering.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photography by Megan Kwan Review by Kyra Papillo Conan Gray says a wishbone never breaks even, but whatever half he\u2019s been holding, it\u2019s clearly working. Headlining his new album \u201cWishbone,\u201d Gray captures the push-and-pull dynamic of getting the short end of the stick through a deeply raw and emotional story. Creating, in my opinion, his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25741,"featured_media":53053,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1895,1525,1523,15,1530],"tags":[1001,192,2663],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53046"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25741"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53046"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53046\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53067,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53046\/revisions\/53067"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}