I saw a wicked rock concert Friday night — and it was by a country band.

Everything about The Band Perry's gig at Mohegan Sun Arena felt rock-concert like: the pure intensity, the raise-the-roof gusto and, often, even the music.

First, let's talk about the performance style: The band, consisting of siblings Kimberly, Reid and Neil, bristled with youthful energy and created a real sense of exhilaration.

They bounced and danced and played to the last row.

They got fans roaring with tried-and-true concert formulas (One side of the arena competed for loudest cheer with the other! Audience members joined in singing!).

At one point, lead singer Kimberly said, "We love for our shows to be loud, wild and crazy."

If it never quite reached the level of "crazy," well, it was certainly a rousing time. Those Perrys know how to put on a heck of a show.

Now, the music: While The Band Perry is categorized as country, as we know, genres are crossed and blurred by most acts these days.

The truth is, the Perrys' music is as much pop as country, a distinction that hardly matters when the songs are this good.

Consider: The attitude-happy kiss-off of "Done." The pop kick of "I'm a Keeper." The gorgeous plaintiveness of "If I Die Young."

The Band Perry sounded super on all of those tunes of their own on Friday, and they tossed in some cool covers, too. Their Grammy-winning version of "Gentle on my Mind" percolated with a country-throwback aura.

They mixed Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack," Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams" and Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" into a wildly entertaining mashup.

They ended the main part of their set with Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls," which was a hoot and a holler; it was also a nice nod to the Perrys' stated admiration for Queen's stage shows.

The Band Perry has enjoyed a fast, hit-powered rise in the music industry.

Kimberly noted that the group had performed in the Mohegan Sun Wolf Den a mere four or five years ago and were happy to get asked to headline "the big room" this time.

In concert, Kimberly makes for an incandescent front-woman, with her pep and humor and her ability to effortlessly work the crowd.

She and her brothers come across as immensely likeable, and they work fluidly together (hey, they have been playing together since way back, when Neil was so young, he showed up to rehearsal in Superman pajamas, as big sis Kimberly told the audience).

Neil, who plays the mandolin and more, and Reid (rocking a man bun Friday), on bass guitar, both provide golden harmonies, too.

As for the technical side of things, the image on the main video screen broke up during the show, leaving it blank for about half of the concert.

Fortunately, the two smaller side screens remained operative.

An aural issue: the sound mix on the upbeat-rocker tunes needed more of the vocals and less of the instruments; the balance was much better on the mid-tempo and slower tunes.

The hour-and-a-half show didn't feature an opening act, which is rare for a country act but was quite fine in this case.

All Band Perry is all good.

k.dorsey@theday.com

Twitter: @KAgDorsey