Entertainment

Love — and Lenny — rule the Fillmore

LENNY Kravitz at the Fillmore was like a shark packed into a fishbowl.

The funky retro-rocker, who usually plays Madison Square Garden, slummed it on the tiny Fillmore stage. Kravitz is always entertaining, but in a space as tight as this he was explosive. In rock-star mode, he ripped his way through the guitar lead of opening tune “Freedom Train,” and he got downright croonful as he played piano during the R&B ballad “I’ll Be Waiting.”

On a stage — large or small — Kravitz delivers, and up close the experience was electric. The concert, the second in a series of five, orbited around the 20th anniversary of the release of his career-making record, “Let Love Rule.”

That’s why “Freedom Train” and his funk rock classic “Mr. Cab Driver” were dusted off in the first breaths of the two-hour show. Those songs were completely embraced by a crowd that was packed shoulder to shoulder, belly to back, sweating as hard as the star, who’d soaked his wool cap and plaid shirt by the close of the second tune.

Every song was extended into a jam that always featured one of the band’s horn players, guitarists or Kravitz himself. By letting all of the songs expand beyond the three-minute confines of radio-play singles, a link was established between man and fan. That tie was strong throughout the show, but when Kravitz finally “Let Love Rule,” it was ironclad.

With the band working the piece to a climax and the audience singing along with spine-chilling perfection, it was easy to believe that if “Love” could kill, we’d all be dead.

Kravitz continues his Fillmore shows tonight, tomorrow and Sunday.

dan.aquilante@nypost.com