Jay-Z opens Barclays Center as Brooklyn prepares to welcome the Nets

New York is already known for mega-venues like Madison Square Garden and tiny cult spaces like Joe's Pub and the Blue Note, but now a new name has been added to the list: the Barclays Center. The controversial rust-coloured arena, which faced years of protest before it was built, opened in the heart of Brooklyn on Friday night as rapper Jay-Z held its inaugural concert. The vast space attracted thousands of fans – and a few diehard protesters – to its first event, crowding the tight network of residential streets around the huge building. "Tonight is a celebration of the borough where I'm from. Welcome to my house," Jay-Z, a Brooklyn native, told the crowd before he began his set. The sold-out gig was the first of many planned concerts at the Barclays Center, which promoters have hailed as a way of rehabilitating downtown Brooklyn and critics have said will destroy a vibrant local community. Other big names set to play there in coming months include Bob Dylan and Barbara Streisand. The arena will also be the new home of basketball team the Nets, bringing major American team sports to Brooklyn for the first time since baseball's Brooklyn Dodgers left for southern California in 1957. The first game in the billion dollar state-of-the-art complex, which can seat 18,200 people, will be on 1 November against rivals the New York Knicks. That game will end more than half a century of sporting drought for Brooklynites, who have seen other major franchises play in the Bronx, Manhattan and – horror! – even New Jersey instead of Brooklyn. However, the Barclays Center has opened in the face of determined protests. It is the first stage in the massive Atlantic Yards development, which is heavily subsidised with public money and represents the biggest development ever tried in Brooklyn. However, proposed housing towers on the site, complete with affordable units for local residents, have yet to materialise, raising concerns that the needs of major corporations and profits for developers have been put far ahead of the interests of the local community.