Bon Jovi blasts off at the O2

"Good evening London, England," he announced. "Welcome to your brand new house. This is called the O2 - and the way I'm judging the crowd out here, who the hell needs Wembley Stadium?"

Read our review of the concert here

Gallery: See more pictures from the gig here

With those words, AEG Entertainments must have hoped that the misfortune which has dogged the Dome since its inception was finally banished and the curse of the Dome no more.

After all, in their minds spending £350 million converting it from a costly white elephant to a slick new entertainment complex must surely be enough to ensure the venue a shiny, happy future.

Perhaps, then, it was best that they did not overhear the words of Laura Bray, who turned up with her friend, took one look around and said: "This place is mental."

Somewhere between her bad journey - she had tried coming by boat, and ended up having to complete the journey by cab - and the mass of O2 mobile network branding all over the complex, Ms Bray was feeling overwhelmed.

"It looks like a shopping centre," said the 24-year-old account handler from Islington. "I keep thinking I'm going to find a Topshop around the corner."

Indeed, the main concourse did look uncommonly like a high street - or perhaps more accurately, the shopping malls at Gatwick Airport. One could eat at Nando's, Pizza Express, the Slug & Lettuce and a host of similar places. Anyone with an O2 account could text a number and get access to the "exclusive" blueroom bar.

But rock fans - stadium rock fans in particular - are generally pretty easily satisfied. Give them the tunes they want, food which isn't a health risk and bars where you don't have to start a fight to get a drink, and they will go away happy; and they went away happy.

"It's very stylish," said Debra Witting, 43, a hotelier from Dartmoor. "It does not feel like going to a stadium. We were right at the top, and occasionally the acoustics were a bit dodgy. Sometimes when he was talking you couldn't hear. There was quite a good selection of food - not just burgers."

"It was brilliant, absolutely brilliant," said Stacey Clay, 29, a teacher from Thurrock - although judging from her expression it could have been a view somewhat influenced by her admiration for all things Bon Jovi.

"There were more toilets, which was a bonus.The seats were comfy, too." One has to admire the self belief of AEG Entertainments. On the walkway from the Tube to the entrance there is a poster wall recording great moments in rock history, from Elvis Presley's That's Alright Mama to Anarchy in the UK and Live Aid. For 2007 the entry reads: "The O2 opens."