HOLY Holy have been on a steady ascent since the release of their 2015 debut album When The Storms Would Come.
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They've sweated it out in pub venues, like Newcastle's Cambridge Hotel, but Tim Carroll (vocals) and Oscar Dawson (guitar/keyboards) have always written euphoric music that was striving for theatres and arenas.
They aspire for that mass human connection.
Therefore, Saturday's maiden performance at the Civic Theatre felt like a triumphant culmination of a long-held promise.
If you're the type of music fan that's too cool to be dragged away from the bar to catch the support acts, boy, did you miss out. This was a triple treat line-up of pure fun.
The evening kicked off with the newly-relaunched surf-punk band The Pitts, which features three-quarters of Newcastle 2000s favourites Dirty Pink Jeans, including renown artist James Drinkwater on vocals and guitar.
Drinkwater is a close friend of Holy Holy and designed the cover of their second album Paint.
Drinkwater growled like a pub-rock priest delivering a sermon, full of passion and bluster. Close behind were his bandmates drummer Jarrad Long and bassist Dominic Gleeson, who kept a steady pace as The Pitts unveiled garage-rock songs about Newcastle's Cowrie Hole and Friday night revelry.
There was nothing earth-shattering or new about The Pitts, but they delivered their songs with conviction.
The evening took a thrilling left turn when Melbourne-based South Sudanese-Australian rapper Piath Mathiang, aka Queen P, took to the stage.
With equal amounts of charisma and twerking, Queen P shook up the Civic Theatre. Joined by a live drummer, beat programmer and two dancers, Queen P had even the most cynical rock listener smiling and shaking their butt in their seat.
The cover of Missy Elliott's Work It contained all the sass of the original.
By the time Holy Holy took to the stage The Pitts and Queen P had certainly whet the appetite. The transformation that's occurred in Holy Holy's music from When The Storms Would Come to last year's ARIA-nominated fourth album Hello My Beautiful World has been immense.
While they once combined indie-folk and classic rock influences, today Holy Holy have morphed into a synth-pop beast, making use of samples, dance beats, synths and more complicated melodies.
What's remained the same is the euphoria and universality at the heart of the music. When Carroll sings "I don't wanna die wondering why" on Maybe You Know, you understand it's no throwaway lyric.
Naturally the set list relied heavily on 2019's My Own Pool Of Light and Hello My Beautiful World. Faces was an early highlight, with sisters Lily and Grace Richardson of indie duo Clews joining Holy Holy on backing vocals. Clews' inclusion gave Faces' looping hook far greater potency.
On Frida, the Civic Theatre was turned into a sea of mobile phone lights swaying to bassist Graham Ritchie's dark grooves.
Holy Holy's stage performance, much like their music, has undergone a transformation. Free from playing guitar, Tim Carroll danced around the stage and reached for the crowd and drew them in, something he once struggled to achieve.
This led to Oscar Dawson taking a more subdued role. He spent most of the evening behind his synth board where he also juggled guitar duties, only stepping forward to deliver lashing of solos.
Holy Holy have expanded their sound so dramatically that their oldest songs Sentimental and Monday and You Cannot Call For Love Like A Dog sounded almost under cooked by comparison.
The covers of Empire Of The Sun's Walking On A Dream and Lorde's Green Light gave Clews another chance to join Holy Holy and dance around the stage.
It's a credit to Carroll and Dawson that in one of their biggest ever gigs they were humble and generous enough to share their stage so willing and provide a rub to the next generation.
Clews also joined the band on the highlight The Aftergone, while Queen P returned to rap on the dark R&B-infused Port Road.
On the closing track True Lovers the Civic Theatre became a scene of pure celebration. This was the closing show of Holy Holy's Hello My Beautiful World tour, which had been rescheduled from last November due to COVID, and they were letting loose.
Queen P and her band, The Pitts and Clews all joined Holy Holy on stage to dance and sing. Carroll and Dawson were both beaming with delight.
Holy Holy have progressed a long way since those gigs back ion 2015 and 2016. One suspects the journey has plenty of miles left, too.
Josh Leeson
Josh Leeson is an entertainment and features journalist, specialising in music, at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league.
Josh Leeson is an entertainment and features journalist, specialising in music, at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league.
