Tramlines 2016: Everly Pregnant Brothers @ O2 Academy

Review of The Everly Pregnant Brother’s Tramlines slot at The O2 on Friday.

When we saw someone polishing a Henderson’s Relish-branded double bass, we knew we were in safe hands. If you haven’t seen
the absolute joy that is the Everly Pregnant Brothers before, let me explain: love-child of local hero Pete McKee, the ‘Brothers’ are
a 7-piece group with the motive to take our favourite hits and, well, jazz them up a bit. Recent nuances include ‘Pork Pie’ (a take
on ‘Parklife’),’Stuck in the Lidl with you’ and nod to Bob Marley with ‘No Oven, No Pie’. Have you got it yet?

No doubt the band has some hardcore followers in their hometown, which meant the modest but hearty crowd in the O2 were
completely up for it. If the aim was to give the lively Dizzee crowd a run for their money, the chant of “Woaaaaah, me chip pan’s
on fire” seemed to achieve it nicely. A particular crowd favourite was their take on Ziggy Stardust, “Reggie sprayed me car”: a
rendition that you could say relates nicely to the David Bowie/Pat Sharp mural spray-painted on Division Street. Also, ‘Don’t tha
want me baby’ restored the Human League classic to the way God intended it.

Concluding with a section called ‘It’s slagging off other towns in the area time’ (“If we have to have Trident, can we at least aim
it at Leeds?”), the crowd enjoyed a symphony of aforementioned double bass beats, cigar box guitars and electric ukuleles from
start to finish.

If you’re a Sheffers local and you haven’t seen the Everly Pregnant Brothers, I implore you to give it a go; their stories of broken
pilot lights (‘No Oven No Pie’) and losing your passport (‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’) make your favourite hits just
that little bit more relatable. And one thing’s for sure: you don’t get this kind of humour down south.