On Wednesday, Sept. 28, Conan Gray, an American singer-songwriter performed at Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island. This marked his 15th stop on the Superache Tour, and many Hinsdale Central students could be found in the crowd.

Conan Gray began his career making vlogs and recording music on YouTube as a teenager in his UCLA dorm. He quickly built a following and became a widely popular indie-pop artist by 2020 with his first album, “Kid Krow.”

“I started listening to Conan Gray during quarantine, ever since my friends and I have been huge fans,” said Audrey Austin, senior. 

Now 23 years old, Gray released his sophomore album, “Superache”, in June of 2022 featuring hits such as “Family Line” and “Memories.” 

Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island is an outdoor amphitheater located in Chicago, roughly a 30 minute drive from Hinsdale Central. This was Gray’s largest venue to date with thousands of fans in attendance, despite the relatively cold Chicago night. 

“I had previously been to this venue for a Rex Orange County concert this past summer and it’s a great experience,”  Austin said.”It was a smaller venue outside and it was also the biggest one he’s ever played at.” 

German-Canadian pop singer Bülow was Gray’s opening act on Wednesday night with hits such as “You & Jennifer” and “Sweet Little Lies.”

“The opener was a young woman who I had never heard of before but she was really good and set a good vibe for the rest of the show,” said Francie Schmelka, senior. 

Throughout the night, students claimed Gray’s performance electrified the audience. His discography’s range of mellow to up-beat music swung listener’s emotions and crowd members deemed it as a memorable night near Chicago’s lake-front. 

“I’ve been to two Conan Concerts now and he is definitely one of my favorite performers,” said Laura Misiunas, senior. “He’s just so genuine and really seems to connect with his audience, which other artists don’t do all the time.” 

The concert’s setlist included 10 of the 12 songs on his newest album plus several older hits. He opened the night with the upbeat song “Disaster” and ended with an encore, “Memories”. 

“My favorite song performed was ‘The Story’ because Conan did it acoustically and it fits well with the song because it’s slower,” Misiunas said. “I had goosebumps the whole time because you could hear the crowd’s singing echoing off the stage.”

Gray has several more stops on his North America tour until he visits Australia and New Zealand as well.

For more information about the Superache Tour, click here.