Neo-Hippie Kravitz: Retro and Relevant

Lenny Kravitz accomplished the difficult, if not exactly the impossible, in his local concert debut Friday at the Roxy: He made peace and love relevant for the ‘90s. Much of the 70-minute early set was--musically and visually--as retro-’69 as Kravitz’s granny shades. But the show also seemed as at home in ’89 as his straggly dreads. Instead of love beads, he sings of Rosary beads; where John Lennon’s “God” was a bitter, post-hippie iconoclastic blast, Kravitz’s “Be” (the most obvious of many Lennon-inspired numbers) is a neo-hippie call to Christian faith.

Yes, Prince and U2 brought the concept up to date in recent years, but, by the time their messages had coalesced, they were already established and sophisticated presences. Kravitz is all guileless naivete. That helps him get away with some of the more blatant references to past heroes, but no more so than the legit rock-pop-funk quality of him and his young band.

And don’t worry about Lenny and star/wife Lisa Bonet being the John and Yoko of the ‘90s. With Bonet staying low-key, bouncing happily in the private box overlooking the stage, they weren’t even Paul and Linda. Though, repeatedly flashing double “V” peace signs, Kravitz did look a bit like Richard Nixon. . . .