Image credit Faranduelo, via WIkimedia Commons
Even though the YouTube-vlogger-turned-popstar Conan Gray performed the second night of his Found Heaven tour in the sleepy Detroit suburb of Sterling Heights, the outdoor Michigan Lottery Amphitheater was ready for an electric evening.
Maisie Peters proved to be the perfect opener for Gray as the crowd went wild. She ran out onstage in all her bleach-blonde glory rocking a white tank top and black miniskirt. She came out at full speed with the electrified, upbeat “You’re Just a Boy (And I’m Kinda the Man)” off her latest album, The Good Witch. She brought an immediate energy that got the whole crowd dancing.
She would go on to play her hit “Not Another Rockstar,” a biting single that criticizes her inability to move on from her reckless taste in men, with lines as vulnerable as “A little self-obsessive and I sign up, sign up. Where’s the pen? Where’s the line?” She remixed this revealing single live with a cover of “Holding Out for a Hero.” Her high-pitched, bright vocals worked beautifully for this Bonnie Tyler classic.
Before departing the stage, she closed with her two arguably most popular hits “History of Man” and “Lost the Breakup.” In the bridge of the last song, she called out the city by stating: “I’m kinda busy, like – I’m in Sterling Hills tonight!” Her famous cover of The Killers’ hit “Mr. Brightside” played as she exited stage left
After a quick set change, the venue’s speakers sung the opening line of the title track “Found Heaven” in an operatic, eerie tone: “No god above us. Can we repent this sin? No soul is innocent. Everybody wants to love.”
Immediately after, the curtain fell, revealing Conan perched on a tall platform framed by giant neon stars. Known for his eccentric outfits, Gray did not disappoint, sporting big black boots alongside a leather set of bell-bottoms bedazzled with silver accents. The ensemble was completed by a black corset emblazoned with a blinding silver star. He reached out for the crowd with black fingerless gloves, bringing to life the album’s gothic vision in human form.
He then jumped into the album’s first major single “Never Ending Song”, keeping the energy up and adrenaline running high. After this, he greeted the crowd with a quick “Hello, how are you? I’m Conan!’ He confessed that when promoting the show on his Instagram profile earlier that day, he called the city ‘Michigan Heights’. Conan requested that the audience call it “Michigan Heights” and jokingly requested for them to “confuse your friends.”
He then dove into a song from his 2020 debut album Kid Krow: “Wish You Were Sober.” Gray satisfied long-time fans – like me – with an eclectic setlist featuring songs from all over his discography, notwithstanding the disappointing gap of his debut EP.
After hearing hits like “Killing Me”, “Eye of the Night”, and “The Exit” you can truly see how Gray brings his talent to the forefront with his masterful vocals. His effortless ability to hit notes high and low amazed the crowd.
Conan’s stage presence never faltered, with plenty of fun moments between the artist and the audience. The singer read handmade signs held by the audience, sang happy birthday to one lucky concertgoer, and signed a fan’s DIY jacket. As a proud Texan, his fans have the idiosyncratic habit of bringing him cowboy hats. That night, he graciously accepted a pink, sparkly hat out of the crowd and struck a few poses. He closed this portion by saying “I am done doing one of my favorite activities: people watching.” The crowd screamed and the backing band began to play the aptly titled “People Watching”.
This song kicked off the ‘sad girl’ chapter of the night with songs like “Jigsaw” which discusses him changing himself for his partner to like him. The Kid Krow track “The Cut That Always Bleeds” details the pain of constantly getting hurt by the same person. “Family Line” offers a look into Gray’s troubled childhood in a broken home saying, “Might share a face and share a last name but we are not the same.” There was hardly a dry eye in the venue.
As he finished this segment, the band left. Conan holstered an acoustic guitar as he spoke about the next song. This song, Conan said, was about people he used to know – and it was a tradition for him to perform it solo.
“If you told me ten years ago,” Conan confessed before playing his hit “The Story,” “[that] I’d be singing on stage in a sparkly jumpsuit to all of you lovely people, I’d never believe you.”
The band returned to play one more tearjerker, “Astronomy” before picking up the tempo back up with songs like “Boys & Girls” and “Lonely Dancers” fitting for the ‘80s euro-pop club. But of course, no Conan Gray show would be complete without his absolute biggest hit “Heather,” a track describing a longing for the singer’s lover to love him instead of the titular woman. He even performed the rare, deleted verse ending with “I wish I could kiss her to know why you love her.”
He then withdrew from the stage, jesting “I’m going away and never coming back” as he does before every encore. Five minutes later, Gray emerged again in another crop top reading “Bourgeoisieses” – the first song of the encore. He curtailed the show with the hit “Maniac” and a big single from the latest album “Alley Rose”.
All of this being said, Conan Gray’s Michigan show demonstrably proves that he delivers in vocals, spectacle, fashion, and emotion. He knows how to hold a stage all on his own and speak to an audience with real vulnerability. The show was heartfelt as well as energetic – the absolute perfect night out.
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