At the opening night of his unprecedented three-week residency at the former Millennium Dome on Wednesday, Prince pulled off the impressive feat of bringing a party atmosphere to a venue with all the ambience of a municipal ice-rink.

In high heels and powder blue suit, pop’s campest heterosexual was equal parts Little Richard and Liberace backed by a small but tight band. He played a generous two-hour set in the round, perched on top of a stage shaped like a giant replica of his famous androgynous symbol.

Since finally securing a divorce from his former record label and reverting to his birth name around the turn of the new millennium, the 49-year-old artist formerly known as Squiggle has proved more innovative for his marketing methods than his musical output.

He has experimented with releasing albums via the internet and including them in package deals with concert tickets.

He went one step further with his latest, the moderately enjoyable Planet Earth, giving it away free last month with every copy of a Sunday newspaper.

From some artists, such unorthodox gambles might smack of desperate attempts at brand expansion and career resurrection. But on Planet Prince, all bets are off, all normal rules suspended. Announcing 21 consecutive nights at one of London’s largest venues was certainly an audacious statement of self-confidence worthy of a champion poker player, but one that seemed to pay off on Wednesday. Following on from a six-month residency at his own Las Vegas club, the show was certainly well drilled and funky.

“You can’t handle me!”, the diminutive singer squealed theatrically. “I got too many hits!”

The last time Prince played in Britain, at a one-off promotional show in May, celebrities crammed the small North London venue while an amorous young stage invader appeared to attempt sexual congress with the singer. This new show is a more polished and choreographed affair, yet oddly old-fashioned, featuring cheer leader-style dancers and a hefty dollop of vaudeville showmanship.

Songs from the Planet Earth album were mostly well received, although some of them tended towards easy-listening schmaltz. The smoochy seduction ballad Somewhere Here on Earth was too syrupy by half, although the perky, playful Guitar came alive on stage. However, the mid-set cluster of Prince-free instrumental jams was pure musical air freshener, more suited to a hotel lobby than a rock concert.

Inevitably, though, it was the Purple One’s classic hits from the 1980s and early 1990s that received the most rapturous reception. He had the entire crowd on their feet with roof-raising versions of funk-pop classics including Purple Rain, Little Red Corvette, Nothing Compares 2U and the mighty Kiss, which featured the updated lyric “You don’t have to watch Desperate Housewives or Big Brother to have an attitude.”

After a storming cover version of Gnarls Barkley’s chart-topper Crazy, in a classic tease tactic the house lights went on and the crowd began to leave, but dashed back in at the very last minute when Prince came back on for a further set of encores.

After the seemingly endless parade of encores, the polymorphously perverse pixie proclaimed: “I got 21 nights of this? Too much fun!”

Not too much, but certainly enough.

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