Lenny Kravitz N.J. concert review: Inside the blistering rock spectacle

While 2024 may ultimately be remembered for its divisions and animosity, everyone could agree on at least one thing this year: Lenny Kravitz deserves his flowers.

The spiritual, sensual and forever funky rock stalwart earned his first nomination for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in February (he's been eligible since 2014). While Kravitz, 60, was left off the '24 induction class, he did earn an overdue star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this spring, not far from the Beatles and Roy Orbison.

In September, Kravitz rubbed elbows with pop's biggest stars — most of whom weren't born when his debut album "Let Love Rule" dropped in 1989 — at the MTV Video Music Awards, where he won the Best Rock award for his single "Human," off his new album "Blue Electric Light."

Kravitz and his exhilarating band have been touring the May LP — Kravitz's 12th and first in six years — much of the summer and fall, playing the European festival circuit before returning to the states and Atlantic City Friday night, for the first of back-to-back smoldering nights at Ovation Hall, inside the Ocean Casino Resort.

The only East Coast dates on this tour also marked the singer's first Jersey shows in six years. Kravitz was quick to tell the audience how important the Garden State is to his career.

"Technically, (New Jersey) is where all of this started, because I made all of my first albums in the state of New Jersey," he said. "I lived in New York City, but I recorded all my first albums in Hoboken, in a studio in an old factory, so I'm pleased and honored to be here."

Across an hour and 45 minutes on his multi-tiered stage, Kravitz did well to span his career, from those more eclectic first four albums recorded in Hudson County, all the way through his newest, rock-til-you-drop jams. The best of the "Blue Electric Light" cuts was the second single "Human," a neo-disco rock anthem with a hook that beats you into submission with its repetition. Such is Kravitz's wont — for an artist commonly viewed as a modern guitar god, he loves a chorus, and most of his songs cycle their refrains to a nearly comical level.

This hooky hypnosis was most present on his newer tune "Low," where he repeated the same line 17 times. And that was true to the studio version, not even some gratuitous extension.

Otherwise, this was a sincerely energizing night of rock and soul revival from an feather boa-donning artist who has always strove from timelessness. The shimmering R&B glitz of "It Ain't Over Til It's Over," one of his early hits back in 1991, could've just as easily existed in 1961. And his grooving smash "Fly Away" (1998) could've dropped right beside The Guess Who's "American Woman," (1970), which Kravitz also famously covers and brilliantly revisited Friday.

As a very, uh, loose Atlantic City crowd swayed with their spilling cocktails and sang to the time-tested shredders "Are You Gonna Go My Way" and "Always on the Run," Kravitz was a steady, detonating hand on his flying V guitar, turning in solos but also giving plenty of room for his lead guitarist and longtime collaborator Craig Ross to shine.

Kravitz included in the setlist a non-single from '89 called "Fear" — "unfortunately it's still quite relevant," he lamented — as an opportunity for the eight-piece band to stretch. Keyboardist George Laks and tenor sax guru Harold Todd traded bright, labyrinthian solos around the song's themes of ignorance, violence and environmental destruction. Jarring video clips of children in gas masks played on the screens behind the band.

Kravitz' vocal performance and blistering energy were unwavering throughout, a testament to the fine physical shape he's kept over the years. His extended wails on "Minister of Rock N' Roll" and the newbie "Paralyzed" were particularly strong, the latter tune spinning rainbow strobe lights around Kravitz as he ripped a solo to spectacular effect.

With all the career-done-well recognition Kravitz has enjoyed this year and beyond — remember, his "Greatest Hits" album is already 24 years old — this tour is a bit of a victory lap. But it's also a reminder of one of the more perhaps underrated rock careers of the last 35 years. Kravitz has influenced a ton of artists, from fellow guitar disciples like John Mayer to the neo-soul of Alicia Keys. Even Katy Perry called on him to play the Super Bowl with her in 2015. He fits just about everywhere.

And in no way was he taking it for granted Friday, still spreading his message of unity.

"We are indeed blessed to be here, to have another day of life on this ever so interesting and challenging planet Earth," he said Friday. "We can celebrate life together, we can amplify love together, because it doesn't matter who we are, where we come from, what side we're on, we are all one.

"And one day we will get there. It sounds naive, but one day we will get there. We take it one day at a time, this is all we have, this moment right now — and in this moment, we are going to fill this room with love."

Lenny Kravitz's setlist

" Are You Gonna Go My Way "

" Minister of Rock 'n Roll "

" TK421 ′′

" I'm a Believer "

" I Belong to You "

" Stillness of Heart "

" Believe "

" Human "

" Low "

" Paralyzed "

" The Chamber "