Messi, in outstanding form for reigning Spanish and European champions with successive La Liga hat-tricks, boosted his earnings through bonuses as Barcelona did the treble last year under Pep Guardiola.
What they want is to clap along to the big cheesy numbers, Jump In My Car, Leave Your Hat On (which persuades a young Spanish fan on to the stage to sit on his knee) and Do The Limbo (which sees about 50 members of the audience up on stage doing the limbo).
Though a later Bemelmans book, "Madeline and the Bad Hat, " suggests the girls live next door to the Spanish ambassador in the eighth arrondissement, none of the buildings near there suited.