The Sublime Phebe Starr

The Sublime Phebe Starr

Hailing from Sydney, this young, really sweet, and maybe a bit nervous musician was a wonderful end to my Prague Fringe Sunday evening. With big eyes and lots of blond hair, she looks a bit like a doll and I expected something a bit “bubble-gummy”. Then she opened her mouth. The rich, soulful lyrics that poured out like liquid velvet took me completely by surprise when I saw her at Fringe Sunday and then again at her evening performance.  Starr is like a cross between Norah Jones and Duffy and her lyrics and ‘depth’ of her music are not what you would expect from someone so young.

On keyboard and synthesizers, Starr played mainly her own songs (including ones that appear on the CD she has recently released in Australia) plus a spellbinding rendition of Prince’s When Doves Cry. Her set included some lovely pieces about her brother, her childhood friends and a piece called ‘The Future Is Born‘ inspired by J-Pop (Japanese Pop to you and me), which demonstrates that she is also a very able pianist. Ending with ‘I want to be an astronaut‘ Starr brought tingles down the spines of her captivated audience.

Starr is playing every night of the Fringe at Malostranská Beseda, Trick Bar (Malostranské náměstí 21, Malá Strana) at 22.00 and deserves to have a packed audience every time. Sorry Phebe, you did mention you are not a ‘crowd’ person but with a voice like that, you may just have to be…
 
For the full Fringe programme and further details go to the Fringe website. Tickets for each performance cost 150 CZK. For the keen beans amongst you, a value pack of five vouchers for 600 CZK might be just the ‘ticket´. Students presenting a valid student ID card are able to get cheap, last minute tickets for 50 CZK, from 30 minutes before start of the show. Advance tickets are available from Ticketstream.