Doja Cat set Minneapolis’ Target Center on fire Thursday night during a tour stop on her first headlining arena tour.

The 28-year-old rapper/vocalist born Amala Dlamini delivered an impressive, highly theatrical and expertly paced show that had the sold-out crowd screaming, swooning and singing along. And it was very much a show, with tight choreography and almost as much fire and pyro as a Kiss concert.

A high school dropout who taught herself to sing, rap and use GarageBand, Doja spent the mid-’10s establishing herself as an extremely online star. After her 2018 major-label debut “Amala” largely flopped, Doja went ahead and recorded a novelty song “Mooo!” and released it via a homemade video that soon went viral.

The success of “Mooo!” — which very pointedly did not make Thursday’s set list — all but forced her label, and soon after audience, to take her seriously. She was set to embark on a major tour in 2020 that was ultimately scrapped due to the pandemic.

But that didn’t stop Doja from continuing to write, record and score a seemingly endless string of hits over the past three years. Due to the pandemic, she doesn’t have the amount of live performance experience someone at this point in her career typically would, but you’d never guess it Thursday night. For 90 minutes, she delivered the sort of show one would expect from Beyonce or Lady Gaga. Save for a pair of snoozy slow songs (“Often,” her cover of Australian neo-soul singer Hiatus Kaiyote’s “Red Room”), she commanded attention throughout.

With her terrific live band perched in the shadows off to the side, Doja spent much of the evening alone on her V-shaped stage, with three large screens behind her. A small troupe of dancers joined her for some numbers, but she always remained the alpha in charge.

Those who fell for Doja’s poppy and fun pandemic singles may have been surprised by the darker tone. She structured the set list around her fourth album “Scarlet,” which delves deeper into hip-hop, with nods to goth rock and a more sophisticated production. Indeed, she has dismissed much of her previous work as “cash grabs” and “digestible pop hits” and kept them largely confined to the third of five acts of the show. (“Kiss Me More” remains a banger, whether it was a cash grab or not.)

Given Thursday’s wildly entertaining show, it’ll be fun to see where Doja Cat goes from here.

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Petrostates could be on a streak for hosting international climate talks.

Oil-rich Azerbaijan got a surprise boost Thursday in its bid to hold next year’s COP29 when Armenia, a country it has warred with on and off for decades, dropped its own aspirations to host the talks — and endorsed its adversary’s candidacy.

The extraordinary turn of events could add to a pattern of oil- and gas-producing nations running the annual talks on how to respond to the Earth’s warming, whose major cause is the burning of fossil fuels. The talks occurring this week are based in the United Arab Emirates, one of the world’s largest oil producers, a year after negotiations in Egypt led to a final text favorable to continued gas production.

Brazil, which has South America’s second-largest oil reserves, is favored to host COP30 in 2025.

Azerbaijan and Armenia — which have fought for control of contested territory since the dissolution of the Soviet Union — issued a joint statement Thursday saying Armenia would support Azerbaijan’s bid to host the climate talks.

The announcement also included promises to exchange service members who had been captured by each country in recent fighting.

The deal could break a diplomatic impasse that threatened to throw the international climate negotiations into chaos as nations deadlocked on where to host COP29.

The annual conference was set to return to Eastern Europe next year. But Russia opposed the bids of every European Union candidate because the bloc has backed Ukraine against Moscow’s invasion. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan and Armenia had vowed to block each other’s proposals due to their own protracted hostilities.

Without naming Russia, the joint statement said the countries “do hope” other Eastern European nations “will also support Azerbaijan’s bid to host.”

Armenia and Azerbaijan “will continue their discussions regarding the implementation of more confidence building measures, effective in the near future and call on the international community to support their efforts that will contribute to building mutual trust between two countries and will positively impact the entire South Caucasus region,” the statement said.

The agreement was first reported by Reuters, which separately reported that Moldova and Serbia are also eyeing the influential COP presidency next year. The State Department and the U.S. embassies of Russia, Moldova and Serbia didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The belated jockeying for COP29 comes at the midway point of this year’s talks in the UAE, whose reluctance to embrace calls to phase out fossil fuels has been a major sticking point in the summit.

It could foreshadow future impasses over energy. The economy of Azerbaijan, which is positioned between Iran and Russia, relies on fossil fuels for about 90 percent of its exports. Moldova and Serbia mainly rely on Moscow for their oil and gas supplies.

Brazil, which is expected to host COP30 in two years, moved last week to join the oil cartel OPEC+. That summit will feature the

Chicago Bears coordinators spoke with reporters Thursday at Halas Hall as the team prepares for Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions at Soldier Field.

Here are three things we learned.

1. Special teams coordinator Richard Hightower congratulated kicker Robbie Gould on ‘a hell of a career.’

Gould, 41, announced his retirement Thursday after 18 NFL seasons in a letter in The Players’ Tribune. He’s the Bears’ all-time leading scorer with 1,207 points in 166 games over his first 11 seasons.

He also played one season with the New York Giants and spent the last six years of his career with the San Francisco 49ers, playing for current Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower.

“Great competitor. Clutch in big moments when we needed him to be. Consistent,” Hightower said. “(He) means a lot to the city of Chicago. … Wishing him the best in the next phase of his life. And I know if he attacks that the way he attacked his career, he’s going to be super successful at that as well.”

Gould made 86.5% of his career field-goal attempts and 97.5% of his extra-point attempts in the regular season. He ranks eighth in NFL history with 447 field goals and 10th with 1,961 points.

He never missed a kick in the postseason (29 field goals, 39 extra points) and played in two Super Bowls with the Bears and 49ers but didn’t get a win.

In his letter, Gould said his favorite kick came in January 2022 in a playoff game against the Green Bay Packers. He made a 45-yarder as time expired to send the 49ers to the NFC championship game, which Hightower called “a special moment.”

“To hit a huge kick like that, on the big stage, to continue my streak of never missing a kick in the playoffs and to also make all of Chicago happy in the process by taking down its rival?” Gould wrote. “It was the best of both worlds.”

An undrafted free agent out of Penn State, Gould received the call to join the Bears while working a construction job in Pennsylvania in 2005. He went on to become a key figure on some of the better Bears teams of this century and ranked 74th on the Tribune’s 2019 list of the 100 best Bears players.

Gould’s time with the Bears came to an end in 2016 when former general manager Ryan Pace cut him before the season. While Gould went on to have two of the best seasons of his career in San Francisco, the Bears struggled to find a reliable kicker for years after that until Cairo Santos arrived in 2020.

But despite the rough ending to their marriage, Gould spoke in his letter of his love for the team and the city.

“From start to finish, I loved everything about my time in Chicago,” Gould said. “Lovie Smith and Jerry Angelo created a team-first culture by assembling a locker room full of future Hall of Famers. To be able to go to work every day surrounded by guys like Brian Urlacher, Julius Peppers, Olin Kreutz, Roberto Garza, Charles Tillman, Lance Briggs and dozens of other first-rate guys — it was the best football home imaginable. We had some deep playoff runs, and we made a ton of memories.

“The McCaskey family gave me the opportunity to live out my childhood dream, and it was an honor to play for them. Ultimately, I hope that we made Bears fans proud. They deserve it.”

2. DJ Moore said of Justin Fields: ‘We want him here.’

Moore was asked about how Fields has handled the speculation about his future in Chicago.

Fields addressed the topic of the Bears potentially moving on at quarterback Wednesday, saying he is “just focused on what I can control, and the rest is in God’s hands.”

Moore, who has 70 catches for 1,003 yards and six touchdowns through 12 games, offered a similar sentiment.

“You really can’t do too much but go out there and be yourself, and he’s a dynamic player, dynamic quarterback,” Moore said. “We want him here. I’ve been having a great year with him, so that should speak volumes. Just leave what they do upstairs, upstairs at the end of the day.”

Despite the offense’s inconsistency this season, Fields and Moore haven’t had trouble connecting. Moore is on pace to have the best season of his career. His high was 1,193 receiving yards in 2020.

“It’s just being on the same page with him week in and week out as best I can,” Moore said. “And when he scrambles, get open and just doing what I do after I catch the ball.”

Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy said Fields has brought the same passion and leadership every day, in spite of the speculation about his job.

“He’s an extremely humble young man that has purpose and passion,” Getsy said. “The consistency that we bring into the room every single day, he takes that and leads that as much as anybody.

“That’s extremely important that he stays that way — the kind of man he is first, but the kind of teammate he is no matter what the circumstances are.”

3. After suffering post-traumatic amnesia after the Bears game, Carolina Panthers tight end Hayden Hurst returned to practice this week.

Hurst posted on social media Thursday that he suffered a “nasty concussion” against the Bears on Nov. 9, apparently when his head hit the ground after a fourth-quarter Jaquan Brisker tackle.

Hurst said he doesn’t remember up to four hours after the game and called it “a scary situation.” Hurst’s father posted Wednesday that Hurst was diagnosed with post-traumatic amnesia.

“While it was scary, it is NOT career ending,” Hurst wrote. “I’m starting my return to play this week, so fingers crossed I make it back for the last few weeks! God Bless & Keep Pounding!!!!”

Hurst missed the last three games and has been limited in practice this week.

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Marc-Andre Fleury is just four victories from becoming the second-winningest goaltender in NHL history, a milestone that is getting most of the attention in what might be his final season.

With five more games, the Wild veteran will become just the fourth goaltender to play in 1,000 NHL games.

“Obviously, I’ve been fortunate,” Fleury said Thursday before knocking on the wooden bench in the visitor’s locker room at Rogers Arena. “Nothing too bad along the way. And fortunate, too, to play long enough, on good teams.

“I just feel lucky — lucky that I could play this long, do what I love, play hockey, and for this many games.”

Fleury will start for the Wild tomorrow in Edmonton, the second of back-to-backs for the Wild on a four-game trip that started with a 5-2 win Tuesday in Calgary. He has 548 wins, three shy of one of his two heroes, Patrick Roy. He has played in 995 games, behind only wins leader Martin Brodeur (1,266), Roy (1,029) and Roberto Luongo (1,044).

“A lot of people, like summer trainers, or team trainers during the season, our medical staff. They always help me stay loose and healthy,” he said. “So, it’s not just me. To get there, you need some help.”

Fleury, 39, was sharp in his last start, stopping 28 of 29 shots in a 4-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks at Xcel Energy Center, part of a four-game winning streak the Wild took into Thursday’s 9 p.m. puck drop.

He’s playing on the last season of a two-year, $7.5 million contract, splitting time with Filip Gustavsson. Overall, he’s 4-4-2 with a 3.21 goals-against average and .884 save percentage. During training camp, he said he would play the season out before deciding whether to retire.

That hasn’t changed, he said.

“That’s still the way I want it, so I don’t overthink stuff during the season, right?” he said. “I’m just going to keep it going about and try to win some games. It’s a little more fun now, right? Everybody’s in a good mood, smiling again. I still think I’ll wait till the end, yeah.”

‘Honored’

Fleury had a mask painted by Dakota artist Cole Redhorse Taylor for the Wild’s Native American Night on Nov. 24. In the subsequent auction to benefit the American Indian Family Center and the Minnesota Wild Foundation, the mask was purchased for $35,100.

A mask designed and pained by Dakota artist Cole Redhorse Taylor was worn by Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury during warmups for the team’s game on Native American Night at Xcel Energy Center on Nov. 24. The mask fetched $35,100 in a subsequent auction to benefit the American Indian Family Center and the Minnesota Wild Foundation. (Photo courtesy the Minnesota Wild).

It meant a lot to Fleury, who defied the NHL and wore the mask during warmups before a game against the Colorado Avalanche at Xcel Energy Center. New directives from the NHL this season prohibit players from wearing specialty jerseys, masks, stickers, decals or tape for theme nights — a response to backlash against players who declined to wear Pride jerseys last season — so jerseys created for the occasion, and also auctioned off, were not worn on the ice.

“Very generous of the auction winner,” Fleury said Thursday. “But to me, it was, I don’t know. I just, you know I had four paint jobs on my mask this season, and that was the fourth one, and I wore this mask for 15 minutes, right? It was to honor Native Americans in all of Minnesota, Prairie Island, there, trying to help them.

“To wear the mask for 15 minutes, and they raise a good chunk of money to help the family center on the reservation, to me I just thought was the right thing to do, and it was an honor for me to represent them.”

Kaprizov: ‘I’m good’

Kirill Kaprizov missed most of the last month of last season with a lower-body injury after getting crushed by Jets defenseman Logan Stanley on March 8 in Winnipeg.

When he struggled, by his standards, early this season, the Wild had the injury checked by doctors again. They declared him healthy, and after taking the ice on Thursday against the Canucks, Kaprizov will have played in all 24 of the team’s games.

With two goals and four assists, he has six points in his past five games and is second to linemate Mats Zuccarello (23). He said Thursday he hasn’t felt limited physically this season. “No, I’m OK,” he said. “I’m good.”

“He looks like the guy that you’re coaching against,” said coach John Hynes, who succeeded Dean Evason on Nov. 28. “Honestly, he looks better coaching him because I get a chance to see him every day, whether in practice or games and seeing him around the rink. I couldn’t be more impressed with his love of the game and his talent level.

“But for me what stands out is his drive — his fitness, his skating, his competitiveness. That’s what allows all those things to come out, and it’s been fun to coach.”

Briefly

Zach Bogosian missed his third game of the season with an upper-body injury but Hynes said he could be available on Friday in Edmonton. “He’s not far off,” the coach said.

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