Rock 'n' roll can be a powerful thing, and Ted Leo makes powerful rock 'n' roll.

There's some sort of a=c theorem in there, but don't look too hard: Suffice to say that Leo and his band, the Pharmacists, were a catharsis in trio form Sunday night at Toad's Place in New Haven.

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It was punk rock at its core, but Leo's version is smarter, catchier and more optimistic, without ever seeming naïve or losing any of the visceral force of the hard-core music he's drawing from. It's propulsive stuff, which sent the crowd into paroxysms of rhythmic twitching as Leo and his band roared through a 75-minute set that included three new songs among tunes from previous albums.

Even its creator was not immune to the effects of the music. Leo started "Little Dawn" with a scouring riff that built in intensity until it flung him around the stage, pushing him to the limits allowed by the curly red cord that tethered him to his amplifier. "Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone?" bulged against the walls of the club, until it seemed that Leo's explosive guitar riff could dislodge bricks and send them raining down on York Street outside.

No one is likely to describe his voice as, say, "soothing," but he yowled with intensity and passion, exploring the mindset behind eating disorders on "Me and Mia" and introducing "Heart Problems" as "yet another song about the sorry state of American health care." Was he kidding? Who knows. Leo definitely has a sense of humor (and a disturbing, good-natured familiarity with Kelly Clarkson's body of work), but certain things he takes seriously.

One of those things, fortunately, is pouring all of his energy into his live performances, and it showed.

Leo came on late in the evening, after a procession of opening bands hailing from as close as down the street and as far as England and Catalonia, Spain.

The Spanish act, Les Aus, is a duo given to noisy songs that veered from Viking-rock riffage to spacey, almost psychedelic soundscapes. The guitar on one song sounded like a sitar playing "Yankee Doodle" through a wall of distortion.

The Duke Spirit, an English band, overcame visa problems in time to join the tour earlier than expected, and the group played an overlong set of bluesy garage-rock tunes.

Local psychedelic-rock heroes the Butterflies of Love opened the show and didn't leave before promising to release a new album sometime in the next year.



Contact Eric R. Danton at edanton@courant.com.