POP MUSIC REVIEWS : Kravitz Lets Big-Rock Style Come to Fore

Touring relatively cozy theaters gives Lenny Kravitz a chance to boost the intimacy of his music. Given the highly personal, spiritual tone of his current “Circus” album and the recent death of his mother, actress Roxie Roker, he must have a lot of deep feelings to share.

Unfortunately, at the Wiltern Theatre on Saturday, he took pretty much the same big-rock-show approach that he did last time, in 1993, at the much larger Pauley Pavilion.

That said, it’s a solid big-rock show. Kravitz’s and his ace band’s command of rock idioms--though borrowed from, among others, James Brown, Curtis Mayfield, John Lennon and Led Zeppelin--remains impressive nearly seven years after his debut. He also downplayed (though didn’t abandon) the ‘60s-’70s retro fashion that for some people obscured his music.

The show began on a promising note with “The Resurrection,” a song from the new album that explicitly and directly spells out his religious perspective. He only opened up like that two more times--once when he thanked fans for their support after his mother’s death, and again in a solo acoustic encore of “God,” another pledge of Christian faith.

It didn’t help that Kravitz--given to grand, dreadlocks-flipping poses--and band maintained an ultra-serious, stone-faced presence. Of course, his boisterous fans will love whatever he does. Saturday he missed a chance to take that bond to another level.