REVIEW: Catie Turner Brings “Comedy & Tragedy” to Los Angeles
THE AMERICAN IDOL SWEETHEART — turned lighthouse for Gen-Z existential crises brought along the tears and laughter of her “Comedy & Tragedy” headline tour to LA’s Troubadour on June 27th. Accompanied by special guests Sophie Holohan and Baby Fisher for the night, Catie Turner’s performance was cathartic in ways you might not be prepared for, whether or not you’d listened to the project beforehand.
Turner had performed as an opener at the beloved LA venue multiple times, but what a beautiful full-circle moment it was to witness her first headlining show at The Troubadour; the indie-pop singer took in the space and audience with such grace, it could have just as easily been her first time stepping foot there.
The “Comedy & Tragedy: Act.1” EP is Turner’s third project since 2019, releasing handfuls of singles in between. It’s remained startlingly clear since her American Idol debut with her hit “21st Century Machine” that Catie Turner can be trusted to keep it real (at an emotional cost). This project explores exactly its namesake of desperately finding laughter in what would otherwise be pure strife— think of it as the “drip or drown” for empaths.
The artist did an excellent job of canceling out the tragedy with the comedy by alternating song energies. Opening with brutally honest head-bangers like “Nothing”, “God Must Hate Me”, and “Easy” set a balanced tone for when she later followed a high-energy High School Musical sing-along (feat. Sophie Holohan) with the heart-wrenching “Comedy & Tragedy”, a melancholy tune about joking her way through her father’s cancer diagnosis.
There are so many things about the emotional magnitude of the show that can’t truly be conveyed in words. Turner’s stage presence in the intimate venue felt like a venting session with an extremely talented friend. The Troubadour was a deeply safe space that night; suddenly every person in the room was a teenage girl, blasting music through shared headphones and trying to get by. We can’t wait to see what growth Catie Turner’s talent continues to bring with impending adulthood! Lord knows it never ends.
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