There's hardly room to move in The Triffid's airplane-hanger live room. The capacity crowd is absolutely buzzing with excitement ahead of epic-rock purveyors Holy Holy's Brisbane leg of their national Paint tour, in support of their artful second album.

With a nonsensical poem about "being holy" blaring over the speakers, singer Tim Carroll and guitarist Oscar Dawson walk on stage to plenty of shrieks and applause. Joined by their now permanent band members, the five-piece launch into an energetic and psychedelic rendition of Gilded Age — the frenetic lightshow and Carroll's increasingly reverberating vocals make for a colossal visual and sonic opening to the show.

The sold-out crowd warmly receives the drum machine intro to That Message, and many sway in time with the brooding upbeat soundscape. Dawson's twangy guitar work perfectly builds with Carroll's soaring melodies, both silhouetted by some very interesting fluttering pink lighting.

History is a full-on guitar assault as Carroll joins Dawson in smashing out the song's anthemic progression between his velvet-smooth vocal runs. After Carroll's set list threatens to accidentally fly into the crowd, he introduces Amateurs as "a song we've never played in Brisbane before" — the rollicking rock track seems to immediately become a new fan-favourite with the bopping crowd.

An absorbing lightshow, featuring waves of smoke and cascading white light, makes If I Were You take on a foreboding vibe, before Ryan Strathie unleashes an absolutely thumping drum solo. In contrast, House Of Cards is enchanting with the addition of Carroll's 12-string guitar, and Holy Holy continue to charm the packed crowd with their sublime triple j Like A Version cover of Beyonce's Hold Up.

The Triffid is once again bathed in pink as retro synthesiser chords introduce the bouncy and backhandedly flirtatious True Lovers. Carroll is a ball of energy, encouraging those closest to the stage to jump in time with his jolting arm movements, while Dawson tastefully rips a glam-rock tapping solo, throwing his long hair in all directions as he weaves up and down his fretboard.

Without much fanfare, local alt-rock artist Machine Age, aka Adrian Mauro, jumps on stage to become the band's sixth member, providing the towering trumpet part in an utterly thumping rendition of Darwinism. Sensing a lust for more killer riffs, You Cannot Call For Love Like A Dog turns the crowd into a heaving mass as Dawson's signature refrains inspire most to either start headbanging or unconsciously play air guitar. While Holy Holy have a swag of amazing songs, they'll be hard-pressed writing a song that can captivate audiences as intensely as the breakout 2015 track.

Dawson's lightning fast fingers shine again in one of Paint's catchiest songs — Elevator — as Carroll reminisces about the sweetest of romantic encounters. A trumpet-infused folksy outro takes many by surprise, as the band crescendo in a screeching wall-of-sound, that… somewhat suits the song.

The first song of the encore see the two long-time friends deliver a spellbinding, intimate rendition of Sentimental And Monday. Without a microphone, Carroll relies solely on the adoring crowd's voices to carry his vocals above his acoustic guitar and Dawson's ethereal guitar embellishments. After a deserved and rousing applause, Holy Holy close their set with Send My Regards — featuring a very cool harmonising guitar solo between Dawson and Mauro, concluding with Carroll's Radiohead-esque looped vocals and pummeling percussion.

In a recent interview, Dawson said the band had made an effort for Paint to sound like a full band affair — rather than building around his grandiose fretwork and Carroll's heartfelt vocals. Live, songs from the new album such as Shadow and Willow Tree truly showcase how the five members' parts complement each other, and tastefully take a back seat when Dawson (frequently) steps on his overdrive pedals. For the sake of music lovers of all ages, let's hope Holy Holy decide to give Paint another lap of Australia sometime soon!