Most performers insist on hot towels and drinks in their dressing room, or, just to be difficult, that their M&Ms be separated according to colour.

But after nearly five decades in the business, Barbra Streisand obviously feels she can demand a little extra investment in time and money.

As she swept into town yesterday for what is being billed as the most expensive concert tour of all time, the preparations were furious.

The stage at Manchester's MEN arena, on which she was going to croon classics such as The Way We Were and Evergreen last night, was strewn with roses.

The arena had been swept by police dog teams trained to sniff out explosives and there were metal detectors on the doors.

Waiting for her backstage were five fabric-upholstered furniture suites, 60 tables and 120 bath-sized towels.

Even the security staff were immaculate in the 'dark jackets, blazers or sweaters with no T-shirts' that she requested.

The diva herself would be ferried around in a limousine accompanied by her entourage in 13 tractor-style trailer trucks, before being whisked to London on her private jet after the two-and-ahalf-hour concert.

Miss Streisand, 65, also shocked fans with her exorbitant ticket prices. Though they start at £75 in Manchester, some cost a staggering £600, and are fetching £1,400 a piece in Internet auctions.

Many die-hard Streisand fans were not deterred. But others complain that it is three times that for the best seats for a Madonna or Rolling Stones concert.

And some say they were duped into paying high prices for her last British concerts in 1994 in the belief it was her final tour. Former fan Rocky Fernandez from London said: "Miss Streisand has often spoken out about equality.

"She claims to be donating a percentage of her hugely vulgar ticket prices to disadvantaged youngsters but where is the equality for those fans not able to fork out £100, let alone £600?"

The singer, who kicked off her tour in the U.S. and Europe, will go on to play Dublin this weekend and three dates in London's O2 arena later this month.

Although she broke box-office records in 14 of her 16 venues in the U.S., raking in £46million, she had to cancel the first leg of her European tour amid a row about 'absurd' ticket prices.

In Italy, consumer campaigners even urged authorities to refuse her permission to use Rome's 24,000-seater stadium.

A spokesman for Miss Streisand, who has 50 gold, 30 platinum and 13 multi-platinum albums, and starred in many movies including the 1969 musical Hello Dolly!, justified the cost by likening her to Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.

He added: "Seeing her in concert is a pretty momentous occasion."