Baku, one of the richest capital cities in Eastern Europe thanks to the oil money in Azerbaijan, witnessed the singer perform a set which was widely acclaimed as a superb centrepiece for the ceremony as the first ever European Games opened up on Friday night.

It subsequently emerged that her performance didn’t come cheap, with the eye-watering sum (for a set of just 10 minutes) in stark contrast to the fees demanded by the likes of Paul McCartney at the opening of the London 2012 Olympics.