in a somewhat big-name artist to provide musical entertainment on the last night of the event. We went through a budget review (I’m a finance guy) to agree on how much to spend, and discussed a bunch of performers who we might hire. Last time we did this we brought in Gwen Stefani, and this year we’re considering the likes of Adele, Shakira, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Dua Lipa, The Weekend, Justin Timberlake, and so forth.

Imagine my surprise when I found out that the most expensive option we’re considering is Coldplay, by a fair margin. I never would have guessed that Coldplay is more expensive to hire than the others I mentioned above.

Is Coldplay still that big a deal? What have I missed?