Lenny Kravitz Defies Age and Time With A Triumphant Live Return to Brisbane

Jet set the table, but Lenny Kravitz serves the feast — two hours of hits, heat, swagger and spiritual communion from a performer who refuses to age.

Live Review: Lenny Kravitz + Jet

Brisbane Entertainment Centre | Friday, 21 November 2025

Photos by Mia Ross

Words by Ben Preece

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Ugh! The Entertainment Centre — arguably the most soulless venue on Earth — but somehow, every time the endless navigation of its carpark labyrinth begins, excitement begins to creep in anyway. After hundreds of shows here over the years — everyone from Prince, Madonna, Kanye West, Beyoncé, Tina Turner and Janet Jackson to Radiohead, Elton John, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Arctic Monkeys, R.E.M. and Springsteen — the sheer scale of artists witnessed in this place is unsurpassable. Tonight adds another big one to the list: Lenny Kravitz, high up on the bucket list since there was a bucket list.

LENNY KRAVITZ LIVE BRISBANE

Entering the venue, it's astounding to observe the sheer diversity of the crowd swelling the queue at the merch stand — white middle-aged men in fedoras, young women in groups, and, most prevalently, packs of randy 50-to-60-year-old women and rock’n’roll couples who’ve clearly been together since Lenny’s early-’90s heyday.

JET

But first: Jet. The Aussie rockers who rode the 2003 garage-rock revival wave all the way to global ubiquity thanks to that single — the one that appears to have kept them in business for two decades. They followed it with several well-received but less iconic hits, then split in 2012 before re-emerging in 2024 with a new single and a renewed appetite for the stage.

Kicking off right after doors open, tonight’s set is solid enough, even if the mix is woeful and the lighting mostly static — the standard support-act treatment. They lift heavily from Get Born, and honestly, it works. The eternal asterisk with Jet is that almost everything they do sounds cribbed from somewhere else. Yes, rock’n’roll steals; but for some reason we’ve always held Jet a little more accountable for it.

Still, Nic Cester fronts like 2003 never ended. ‘Look What You’ve Done’ lands poignantly, followed by ‘It’s A Long Way To The Top’ — a track AC/DC themselves have long neglected, but Jet tackle it with surprisingly sturdy reverence. (Though, as the old saying goes: if you’re already accused of borrowing, maybe don’t cover your clearest influence? <shrugs>)

‘Are You Gonna Be My Girl’ arrives surprisingly early, clearing the way for a home-stretch run of ‘Rollover DJ’, ‘Get Me Outta Here’, and ‘Cold Hard Bitch’. As the arena fills, these familiar songs provide exactly the soundtrack a Friday-night crowd in party mode requires.

LENNY KRAVITZLENNY KRAVITZ LIVE BRISBANE

NY KRAVITZ LIVE BRISBANE

In virtually no time, extra drums and instruments onstage are uncovered, the volume ramps up exponentially, and Strafe’s early-’80s electro-hip-hop club smash ‘Set It Off’ pulses through the PA. Y’all want this party started right? The message is clear: the main event is here.

The lights drop. The room erupts. And then — there he is.

Lenny Kravitz strides out in trademark vinyl pants, denim jacket, bling, and dreadlocks, like a man who has spent four decades refusing to age. Ageless, effortless, annoyingly perfect — pick any adjective. The charisma is real, and there is nothing dated about this entrance. He remains firmly in the moment, keeping rock’n’roll alive without a trace of irony. Make no mistake: the world needs Lenny Kravitz in 2025.

He and the core four-piece — long-time guitar sidekick Craig Ross, bassist Hoonch “The Wolf” Choi, and afro-crowned drummer Jas Kayser — hit the ground running with the 2008 opener ‘Bring It On’, all groove and giant riffs. An almighty crack pierces the room and the scene is set. This is the tour for last year’s Blue Electric Light, and it’s been a full thirteen years since Kravitz last set foot on Australian soil.

A more modern classic, the muscular ‘Dig In’, follows before they dive into ‘TK421’, the new album’s electronic-leaning pop lead single. It fits surprisingly well into 2025’s musical climate, though it’s a little disappointing to notice pre-recorded ad-libs and backing vocals powering certain sections. But Kravitz doesn’t hide it — and mid-song he’s already down in the crowd for the first of several walkabouts, so all is forgiven.

So far, so good — it’s loud, one of the loudest experienced in this room — and Kravitz is a god, all kinds of god. Guitar hero. Fashion icon. Sex symbol. His vibration is high; his pants tight; his energy unmountable. The lighting is outrageous. The sound is crisp — shockingly crisp — for this cavernous concrete barn. The band, a frighteningly tight ensemble bolstered by multi-instrumentalists and backing vocalists who treat harmonies like a competitive sport, locks into grooves deep enough to fill with water and swim in. Key man George Laks appears on his riser, brass players line the wings, and then the classics arrive in force.

‘Always On The Run’ (with its eternal “your Mama said…” refrain) sounds renewed, with resplendent brass hits punctuating each twist while Ross replicates Slash’s solo with forensic flair.

Then ‘I Belong To You’ lands like a shot from the dark — Kravitz striking slinky poses under a single spotlight, elevating a visual already married to one of his most sensual songs.

An extended ‘Stillness of Heart’ gives the crowd its first proper mass sing-along, while the towering ‘Believe’ — with Ross delivering a transcendent, Gilmour-esque extended guitar solo as strings swell and the crowd sways — becomes one of the night’s most jaw-dropping moments.

It gives way to a run of newer songs and deeper cuts from the last decade. Some will say the vibe drops here — and it kinda does — but the songs are still excellent, if not outright classics, proving a rare consistency for an artist deep into his career.

The mid-tempo groove of ‘Honey’ is hot, leaving you wanting a full R&B record from Kravitz. ‘Paralyzed’ perhaps overdoes it with the pyro (a little wasted on this particular tune), while ‘The Chamber’ leans into a bassline clearly modelled after ‘Love Is In The Air’. ‘I’ll Be Waiting’ brings a shift into ballad mode, with Kravitz seated at a piano centre-stage.

THE FINAL STRETCH

The final stretch is, frankly, an embarrassment of riches — the huge hits coming thick and fast, non-stop until the end. One by one they land: sparkling, warm, utterly unfussed by time. Every era gets a look-in. Every hook still works. It’s a reminder that Kravitz has quietly amassed one of the most unimpeachable sing-along catalogues of the past thirty years.

Try and defeat this run: ‘It Ain’t Over ’Til It’s Over’ (this reviewer can die happy), ‘Again’, ‘American Woman’, ‘Fly Away’, and a main-set finale of ‘Are You Gonna Go My Way’. These are songs we’ve all heard enough times to reach saturation point — and yet they arrive with renewed energy, zero irony, and absolute commitment. They aren’t museum pieces. They’re living things.

The latter, in particular, arrives with extra fire. Lenny leans into the crowd, eyes blazing, and screams, “JUMP!” And they do. The entire room — balconies included — levitates. Not bad after two hours led by a 61-year-old. Go figure.

He introduces the band one by one. Drummer Jas Kayser receives downright deafening screams — fair enough too, she’s unbelievable. Full afro, Stones sleeveless tee, radiating the vibe of Cindy Blackman Santana circa ’91 — but talent like Kayser’s cannot be mimicked. She owns her space entirely.

ENCORE

The encore is nothing but a twenty-minute ‘Let Love Rule’, enough time for Kravitz to complete a full lap of the entire arena. At one point, a female fan reaches out and rips four dreadlocks straight out of his head — shameful behaviour by any standard. Still, he pushes through the pain without missing a beat, delivering a soaring chorus from a mini B-stage up the back, bathed in light like some guitar-slinging archangel.

Kravitz still works. He may look immortal and sound immortal, but he sweats like the rest of us. His voice — smoky, sturdy, still elastic — slips effortlessly between falsetto, snarl and sermon. He returns to the main stage to finish us off — literally and spiritually — the band hammering home the final bars like a victory march.

When the last note rings out, the room is glowing. Kravitz has given everything — and taken nothing for granted. Tonight he demonstrates a rare contemporary prowess executed by a 61-year-old that perhaps hasn’t ever felt this youthful. What stops him from inclusion in conversations about longevity and relevance is beyond comprehension — but the conversation needs to happen, next to, or at least just after, the likes of Madonna.

If a 1991 Lenny Kravitz might’ve been “better” than this show tonight, it’s hard to imagine how.

LISTEN TO THE SETLIST