http://entertainment.timesonline.co....cle1980661.ece

"Originally booked to launch the revamped Wembley Stadium, but bumped by delays, Bon Jovi had to make do with inaugurating the O2 Arena.

Fortuitously, the shiny new venue proved a fine fit for the vintage rockers, although the strange, tented structure once known as the Millennium Dome in which it resides hadn’t totally shaken its sordid past.

Rescued by an American consortium with £350 million to spare, the O2 has morphed into a corporate crowd-pleaser, complete with 20,000-capacity arena, mall-style walkways packed with bars and restaurants and an 11-screen cinema complex. There’s even an icerink-in-waiting if wanted.

Yet some construction is still under way – there were isolated building sites and gaping holes in the ground – while first night organisation was appalling and some supposedly hi-tech facilities failed.

Not that fans cared from the moment they saw a smiling Jon Bon Jovi exit his dressing room and make his way through backstage – captured on camera and beamed on to giant screens around a surprisingly small stage. It was a smart start, which improved as soon as the show began. The arena’s sound was superb – as sharp and powerful on the floor as in the two tiers of pricey corporate boxes. Yes, the place lacks character and atmosphere was tricky to conjure, but as a modern arena it works well.

A joyous Bon Jovi were as slick as their surroundings. “Welcome to your brand new house,” said the singer after an awesome opening couplet of golden oldies Livin’ on a Prayer and You Give Love a Bad Name that had arms punching the air and incited a cacophonous singalong. “Who needs Wembley?” he continued. But you can bet a stage that struggled to contain both the band and its equipment and left little room for dancing, never mind running from side to side, was not what Bon Jovi had hoped for.

Sporting a black silk shirt on the back of which was printed golden angel wings – the front, naturally, open to expose plenty of chest – the glossy-haired singer found other ways to work the crowd. He invited competition winners, then pretended to take the huff when one preferred to hug the keyboard player, handed choruses over to folk on the floor to sing and dug out the band’s debut hit, Runaway – a song now old enough to drink alcohol, he quipped.

For how long he can continue highlighting his hair and striking poses for the screaming women who made up a vast percentage of the audience – and ranged from teenagers to fifty-somethings – is a question Bon Jovi must surely be asking himself. The ladies loved him, but at times, he looked ludicrous, standing with his legs wide apart and his arms reaching out.

His strong, warm vocals, however, couldn’t match the punch of the blazing riffs of Richie Sambora, fresh from rehab and looking a little dishevelled, but incendiary on Born To Be My Baby and the set highlight, It’s My Life.

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Tracks from the current, countrified album Lost Highway, which featured a female fiddler in a glittery dress and pedal steel and mandolin players, slotted in sweetly, but it was the old hits that brought the house down.

The main part of the O2 still to be completed is the casino awaiting planning. With more than a million tickets already sold for forthcoming shows, the arena looks a safer bet. As for the opening act, they were never going to be gamble."

S.