Pop Reviews : Loggins’ Renewal at the Wiltern

When Kenny Loggins’ last record threatened to sink below the horizon with barely a whimper, his career appeared to be on a definite down slope.

Don’t believe it for a minute. Loggins’ concert at the Wiltern Theatre on Wednesday was a classic--a program that was as rich in feeling and lyricism as it was vibrant with energy and rhythm.

Appropriately, a good part of the 2 1/2-hour event was devoted to material from Loggins’ new album “Leap of Faith,” with its emerging themes of renewal and redemption. His performance of songs like “Will of the Wind,” “Conviction of the Heart” and “If You Believe” indicated not only that Loggins is still very much alive and well as a songwriter, but that his work has gained a striking new degree of maturity and relevance.

Aided by a crackerjack eight-piece band, Loggins approached the program like a long, interactive evening with friends. Older pieces surfaced, along with Loggins’ easygoing, between-songs comments and an aura of sheer joy in the music-making.

Loggins’ singing, filled with trademark falsetto passages and warm vocal tones, appeared to be more pliable than it was in the past. Always a versatile performer, he moved from gentle folksiness to flat-out rocking with greater ease and a more penetrating sense of character than ever before.

Following a second night at the Wiltern, Loggins plays the Spreckels Theatre in San Diego tonight.