As I watched Pete and J, I saw three dudes on stage, but heard about twenty rock stars. No kidding.

Pete Harper (vocals, acoustic and electric guitar, piano, keys), Jason Blynn (vocals, acoustic and electric guitar), and Sarab Singh (drums, percussion, vocals) have the vocal harmonies of Queen, the classic rock sounds of Kansas, all fused with psychedelic distortions comparable to MGMT, and melodies ingeniously akin to The Beatles.

Their vocals are incomparable. Every member had their own outstanding set of pipes and when put together, the three sounded like a choir of angels. The strong vocals put against rapidly rising and falling guitar/drum crescendos and a wildly entertaining performance, threatened the success of every other band in the line up.

The first song pumped vibrations of  extremely high energy into the festival with sounds going from soft to high, low to loud – and even completely coming to a halt. Blynn stepped forward –and as the crowd expected a nice, masculine solo – he totally sent us into shock by breaking into a run of vocals so dynamic it resembled opera.

The diversity didn’t stop there either. The percussion remained consistently up-tempo but the styles of songs drastically changed one to the next. Harper would strike his keys, move away, come back and strike his keys again, again and again, creating a mysterious, paranoid, schizo reverberation that intrigued the senses and drew the mind into an altered state of enjoyment. Some songs had country-alt themes, where the guitars would wind up and curl the notes into frenzied, classic rock triumphs –while others played on the beats of urbania hip-hop.

If you looked away for a second – you would have missed something important. It would either be a theme-change, a crazy dance move on the part of Harper, or a beautiful vocal resonance that held the power of complete musical seduction. The themes behind the songs were all very interesting, and although half the time I could have cared less what the songbirds were singing about, one song really got me hot. Chanting over and over again “Stand up for the loneliest generation” – their fate was sealed. These guys were on point, current, and perfectly in tune with the mentality of the Right Now.

The tone of Elemental Experience changed by the middle of Pete and J’s show, going from safe and comfortable, to riotous and revolutionary. I enjoyed every second of their performance, will without a doubt see them again, and was surprisingly disappointed to see them leave. I suggest a Pete and J show for the ultimate entertainment junkies.

Photo Credit: www.karhton.com