O2, The Dome and live gigs

If you’re a Green Day fan or – heaven forbid – a Bon Jovi lover, you’re in luck: starting this year, you’ll be able to watch their gigs live on your O2 phone. Come 2007, you’ll also be able to squint at footage streamed straight from the old Millenium Dome, which is being rebranded as ‘The O2′ (pictured).

The live gig videos will arrive courtesy of an O2 hook-up with multimedia masters, Network Live. Last November, Live provided the tech to stream an extremely exclusive Madonna gig to O2 punters – the only way to get a peek if you weren’t on the VIP guest list. Right now, there are no details on what gigs will be shown and how much they’ll cost, but O2 tells us there’ll be plenty of live music to enjoy before the old Dome opens its doors.

O2 and AEG’s partnership to transform Blair’s white elephant into The O2 – billed as ‘the UK’s most exciting and technically advanced entertainment destination’ – is also a feisty move. The main attraction will be an indoor arena for up to 23,000 people with around 150 ‘world-class’ music, entertainment and sports events planned for the first year. Extras include a 2,000 capacity O2 music club, an O2 Ice Pad, exhibition space and a bunch of shops, bars and restaurants.

The icing on the cake/dome will be O2’s logo stamped on the top like an enormous halo – so if you’re flying over London you won’t be able to miss it.

31/01/06 update: official word from O2 is that the new Dome won’t have a fat O2 logo on the roof.