The multi-year sponsorship of the Millenium Dome is rather nifty. Renamed ‘the O2′, you can get priority tickets to some rather huge gigs if you’re an O2 customer. Reasonably cool. But irrelevant if you live elsewhere around the UK.

Until today, that is.

O2 have done a deal with LiveNation/AMG. From the 1st of January next year, AMG’s venues are to be renamed. So what was once known as ‘The Brixton Academy’ will now be known as ‘the O2 Academy Brixton’.

O2 customers will gain priority access to tickets to all gigs at the venues, as well as other Live Nation events across the country. In total, O2 customers will gain special access to as many as 4,000 Live Nation produced shows a year in the UK up to 48 hours before they go on general sale.

That is set to be a persuasive pitch for those for whom live music is an absolute must. Me? I’m never that impressed standing at the back surrounded by drunk Coldplay fans. But if you’re one of those Coldplay fans desperate to get a ticket before everyone else does, would you change your network operator to o2? Quite possibly.

Here are the new O2 Academy venues:

O2 Academy Brixton
02 Academy Islington
O2 Academy Birmingham
O2 Academy Bristol
O2 Academy Glasgow
O2 Academy Liverpool
O2 Academy Newcastle
O2 Academy Oxford
O2 Academy Sheffield
O2 Academy Leeds
O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire

This is what swings it for me though: Fast track entry. I’d use my O2 iPhone account for that. Definitely.

This is also quite an interesting point:

O2 will work closely with Live Nation/AMG to enhance the concert going experience, developing technologies like mobile ticketing which is both convenient and environmentally friendly, and utilize the venues to assess the benefits of contact-less NFC (Near Field Communication) technology in the music industry.

Interesting, interesting…

Here’s the best features:

15.3% demonstrates that above all, UK purchasers want a handset that looks good. It’s a fashion item. A measly amount want email — only 1.2%. That’s to be expected though when you talk to normobs. I’m not surprised that only 1.5% rated the web browsing experience of their handset as the best bit.

As for the worst features?

Almost 15% had an issue with battery life. No surprise. Have you seen my charger, anywhere? 10% don’t like the navigation. Again, no surprise. Most mobile interfaces are simply useless.

I liked this summary of the best and worst bits of handsets:

27% rated their N95 camera as the best bit of the phone. 35% reckoned the battery life sucked. I think the N95 battery is reasonably good myself.

Sony K850i users were effusive about the camera/video on their device. Stands to reason. Excellent quality on that handset.

The biggest problem with the LG Viewty? 25% disliked the navigation/keypad. Oh dear.

Anyway, interesting reading. More info at the above link.