Evergreen rocker Lenny Kravitz wants fans to stow their phones to “be present with the vibe”
He has been urging fans to Let Love Rule for 30 years and as he heads back to Australia, rock superstar Lenny Kravitz also wants them loving the planet.
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Exclusive: To be a modern rock star is to navigate a storm of contradictions.
Take Lenny Kravitz, who will return to Australia for his first tour in eight years next April.
He has always positioned himself as an environmentalist yet inevitably has to travel by jet, private or otherwise, to do his day job.
The Are You Gonna Go My Way rocker is one of the loudest voices trying to get foreign assistance to rebuild hurricane-ravaged islands in his beloved Bahamas as he expands his own interior design business, specialising in luxury hotels and homes.
One of his side hustles is photography, but he isn’t a fan of the constellation of mobile phones pointed in his direction for the entirety of a show.
And while most artists would be focusing the attention of fans on a recent new album, last year’s Raise Vibrations, he finds himself on a world tour in celebration of the 30th anniversary of his debut album Let Love Rule.
Being the effortlessly cool and chilled dude that he is, Kravitz finds a way to make the commercial realities of maintaining a career in music — giving the fans what they want — work for him.
He explains the repertoire for the Australian leg of the tour, his first concerts here in eight years, is influenced by social and political themes rather than an anniversary.
“The message is always centred around Let Love Rule but the tour repertoire has been based more around themes that come from various albums,” he says, sounding a little sleepy from Paris after a quick trip to Tokyo to host his Assemblage photographic exhibition.
“Being that we are living in these very interesting and challenging times, the message centres around love, as it always has, but it also centres around a lot of social issues and political issues that are very timely.”
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The 55-year-old artist, like many rock stars of his vintage, finds himself re-examining his older repertoire in the context of these stormy and often chaotic times.
For every song which espouses love will keep us together is another addressing racism (Bank Robber Man) or political corruption (It’s Enough).
Kravitz also seems to regard his love songs as declarations of adoration for the planet as much as they are for a human.
“If you would have asked me 30 years where I thought we would be as a planet, how our relations would be, how we would be treating the planet etc, I would have thought we would be in a much better place,” he says.
“Nature will act in the way nature acts and our time is getting shorter in dealing with it and what the result will be.
“But the show is a celebration, not a downer, it’s all about love and being positive, full of spirit.
“The purpose of the show — and I don’t even like to call it a show — me being there with the people, is all about unity and us coming together and finding that place which will hopefully set the tone for what we do and how we act the following day and moving forward.
“And it’s been really beautiful, I think this is the most fun I’ve had on tour. Maybe that has to do with perspective I have but it’s been wonderful.”
A desire to strike that collective consciousness within the constraints of a two-hour rock show also means Kravitz would rather see the whites of his fans’ eyes rather than the back of their smartphones.
Again, it is another quandary for an artist whose performance career dates back before the camera phone became a substitute for a pair of eyes.
Kravitz struggles with the disconnect between artist and fan caused by that technology even as other developments, such as social media, close the divide between them.
He’s not quite at the point of banning them from his shows but he will “suggest” fans pocket their phones after a few songs.
“Instead of demanding of people, I try to suggest. ‘Okay you’ve done that for a few songs, now what are you doing, where are we, let’s be in the moment and really feel that and participate and listen’,” he says.
“A lot of people do respect that, some don’t, because they are conditioned and can’t help themselves. We have forgotten how to be in the moment, we’re more interested in capturing the moment digitally so that we can prove and show to people where we are.
“I think it’s something we need to work on, being present without having to prove or show off. Be present, be present with the people, be present with the vibe.”
Kravitz’s vibe covers a lot of territory these days. Besides photography and interior design, his creative expression has stretched to acting in the past decade, starring in the Hunger Games, The Butler and Precious films.
A regular presence at the various fashion weeks, particularly the annual parades in Paris, he haunts vintage stores for design inspiration and the rare piece that will “express how my body wants to feel on stage”.
He also has a new base in Brazil, an old coffee plantation surrounded by jungle which he has turned into a haven for himself and his family, including Big Little Lies actor Zoe, and a sustainable farm.
Yet for all of his competing creative endeavours, Kravitz insists music remains his true love.
“Music is the centre and always will be the centre,” he says.
“The other things are wonderful, other mediums in which I can express myself, but music is the core, the nucleus of everything in my life.
“I can’t breathe without music, that’s how that is for me.”
Tickets are now on sale for the 2020 Bluesfest, Byron Bay, where Kravitz will perform on April 10.
He also performs at Qudos Bank Arena on April 3, Newcastle Entertainment Centre, April 6 and Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena, April 8. Tickets on sale from October 24.
Originally published as Evergreen rocker Lenny Kravitz wants fans to stow their phones to “be present with the vibe”