Concert Review - Lenny Kravitz - Auckland - 14th November 2025
Presented by TEG Live
Lenny Kravitz Live in Concert Auckland Photo Credit Mia Ross
Review By: Faith Hamblyn
Artist/Band: Lenny Kravitz with special guest Troy Kingi
Venue/City: Spark Arena, Auckland, New Zealand
Date of Event: Saturday 15th November 2025
Earth-bound space-funk priest Troy Kingi kicked off at Spark Arena tonight in a squeal of feedback. Bassist Marika Hodgson was centre stage, while Troy sang about dreams really coming true; she wore dark shades, which was very cool and Lenny Kravitz-coded. If you’re supporting Lenny Kravitz, you must wear your best and bring the funk – and Kingi and band did that, with style.
Shake That Skinny Ass was a falsetto groove, like Prince covering The Stylistics but not as camp. Troy performed like Dr John in high-chief mode, with his talk of Southern American night parades. ‘You don’t need permission to dance tonight,’ he told the crowd, and they didn’t need telling twice. Kingi’s use of trumpet and keyboard echoed Stevie Wonder and Motown, which in turn is a soul brother to Lenny Kravitz. So far, so soul, but if Troy is anything consistently, it’s mercurial.
They switched from spacey keyboard to gravity-heavy drums, reggae and call-and-response, and he changed to a jazz guitar for maximum funk. Their penultimate song, Hot Medicine, was heavy and dirty, with a wailing solo, because after all, rock and roll aint dead. With Ride The Rhino the crowd sang along, and Kingi nailed that surreal desert rock. To either side of the stage, on giant screens, his robe-draped be-hatted image reflected in the glass railings of the stands.
After singing along to Talking Heads’ Psycho Killer, the crowd filled the stadium with glowing cell-phone screens. Lenny Kravitz and band entered to Jas Kayser’s thundering drum intro. He has long had natural-haired goddesses on the sticks, and he’s still got Craig Ross and his Cream-style ‘fro on guitar, and – yesss – Lenny’s dreads are back.
With beams of acid-yellow light from above and the smell of weed, they launched into Bring It On, followed by Dig In. Supercharged Motown number TK421 is exceptional, but it’s what our esteemed editor let me know that really got me hooked – the TK421 is the stereo add-on that Buck from Boogie Nights tries to upsell, with the promise that it makes you wanna freaky-deaky. That’s the kind of bass inspiration from self-confessed studio-nerd Kravitz that I think everyone should experience.
Always On The Run had Kravitz in red-coloured solarised negative on the screens, dreads shaking along to the horn section. He glittered in vintage denim and a backless scoop-neck metallic halter.
I Belong To You had hypnotic soul percussion and Marvin Gaye-style video effects. Believe and Honey (off new album Blue Electric Light) sound like John Lennon met David Bowie in space; love is all you need, and some hand claps and a horn section. Paralyzed was punctuated by huge bursts of flame; Lenny played a Flying V.
During cinematic number The Chamber, kids in the crowd danced around a light-up glowing creature. I can’t explain that, but there is hope for the club scene after all. The highest-energy part of the gig had run its course – or had it?!
It Ain’t Over ‘til It’s Over had pixelated Lenny on the screens like a retro version of retro, and Again had the crowd holding their cell phones as candles. American Woman tied in with Fly Away, and Are You Gonna Go My Way had double-speed strobe lights and seemingly an attempt to blow up the drummer with dry ice.
The extended encore was another world. For Let Love Rule, Lenny Kravitz walked around the perimeter of the arena and entered the sound-desk area, to a raised platform there. It was like something spiritual, with laying of hands and signing of books, and a beautiful vegan so close I could see him clearly from the back of the venue. Be right back – I just gotta go buy some flares (the trousers, not the pyrotechnics - ed).
Setlist - Troy Kingi and The Cactus Handshake
Silicone Booby Trap
Leg Space
Shake That Skinny Ass
Through My Venetians
Aztechknowledgey
Grandma's Rocket Poem
All Your Ships Have Sailed
Hot Medicine
Ride the Rhino
Personnel
Treye Liu (drums)
Marika Hodgson (bass)
Guy Harrison (keyboards)
Arahi Whaanga (guitar)
Setlist - Lenny Kravitz
Bring it on
Dig In
TK421
Always on the Run
I Belong to You
Stillness of Heart
Believe
Honey
Paralyzed
Low
The Chamber
I’ll Be Waiting
It Ain't Over 'til It's Over
Again
American Woman (The Guess Who cover)
Fly Away
Are You Gonna Go My Way
Encore
Let Love Rule
Personnel
Amiri and Rahiem Taylor (backing vocals)
Michael Sherman (baritone saxophone)
Cameron Johnson (trumpet and flugelhorn)
Harold Todd (tenor saxophone)
George Laks (keyboards)
Hoonch ‘The Wolf' Choi (bass)
Jas Kayser (drums)
Craig Ross (guitar)
