On the Road Again
Live Reviews:

Lenny Kravitz
September 12, 1998
The Plaza of Nations, Vancouver, BC

The sold-out Plaza of Nations was all a-buzz in the Pacific twilight. Cigarette lighters flickered like a field of happy fireflies in tribute to the opening night of Lenny Kravitz's tour (promoting his fifth album-aptly titled 5). I was remembering back to high school, when after the release of Lenny's first 'Let Love Rule' album, I was sure he was the closest thing to God.

Kravitz has changed. Gone are the dreads and his sexual flower-child image. Gone was the stoned, stalking, stage walker of Kravitz concerts past. Instead, despite his full-on rock god stage antics in his violet clad, Elvis-inspired get-up, Kravitz seemed bored and aloof; only occasionally throwing the audience an interactive bone with the odd leg shake or half-hearted pelvic gyration.

Despite Kravitz's apparent lack of soul and enthusiasm, one of the highlights of the show was the paced-to-a-tee set list. It began with a twenty minute super-jam warm up of new material which eventually broke into 'Let Love Rule' and 'It Ain't Over'. As he pulled out the oldies, the audience seemed to finally remember why they loved Lenny. He took the set down to the mellow-favourites and popped back into tempo with 'Mr. Cab Driver' and 'Mama Said' - ending the show with crowd favorites 'Are You Gonna Go My Way' and 'Believe In Yourself' .

Even though Kravitz' super-funky back up band's musicianship (which he never even acknowledged) would be a worthy concert to see all by themselves, there was no disputing who's show it was. Lenny was the boss all right, but in the end he was just a big bore in a purple suit.