When Lenny Kravitz sang “Let Love Rule” twenty years ago it seemed like hippie dippie cornpone but these are nastier, more cynical times and Kravitz share-the-love sentiments sound more relevant and essential now. In fact, Kravitz recognizes this and has titled his new record It’s Time For a Love Revolution and it reportedly features a throwback sound to his debut. Kravitz brought his traveling rock and love revival show to the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and it was mostly a workout of his most famous songs and far from a showcase of new material.

No doubt that will follow once the disc is out in February and sinks in over the summer. Kravitz, who grew up in Santa Monica (thus no doubt the odd choice to play in the L.A. area), revealed early on that he was suffering from the flu for over a week and barely made the gig and it showed in its lagging middle part. He and his tight six piece band, including two fluid horn players, started strong running through tracks like “What Are We Saying,” and even though Kravitz voice was hoarse he plowed on but a third of the way through he stepped back a bit, let his band noodle and jam through song codas, before settling into an acoustic set of love songs including the new “I’ll Be Waiting” and “If You Want It.”

They sounded fine but the wired crowd, a mix of forty somethings and, as with all Lenny shows, younger L.A. women—lots and lots of women seemed to fade out and Kravitz even apologized adding, “thanks for hanging with me here.” Soon enough, the Nyquil must have worn over and Kravitz muscled up with a blitzkrieg of his hits all done up with rigor and explosiveness as he churned out spiraling leads on “Fly Away,” plowed through “American Woman” (it still sucks though) before delivering “Let Love Rule” and taking a stroll through the general admission audience and letting the crowd sing the chorus back to him—a move he has done since his early tours but it still feels like a crowd pleaser.

The wah-wah driven “Love Revolution” was a runaway train with the momentum of the Patriots. It, of course, led into the galvanizing Hendrix cop “Are You Gonna Go My Way” and it was clear everyone in the room clearly would follow him anywhere. Let’s face it by now, you either believe in Kravitz power of love or you think he’s just a great environmentalist as he recycles riffs and genres but the guy has always understood how to bring people together through his music. This opening night of a new tour proved he still does. Hopefully, he gets a B-12 shot — the mid-set lag was clearly an anomaly. Now let the revolution begin