Live Commentary: Baku 2015 European Games opening ceremony - as it happened

Good afternoon! Thank you very much for joining Sports Mole for the opening ceremony of the inaugural European Games in Baku. Some sports have already got underway in Azerbaijan, but the Games will officially open this evening in front of a sell-out crowd at the Olympic Stadium. Follow all of the action live with us from inside the stadium, beginning with an hour build-up before the pre-show gets underway...

The actual action at the inaugural Games got underway this morning, with synchronised swimming having the honour of being the first sport to take place. Belarusian pair Hanna Shulkina and Dominika Tsyplakova entered the history books by becoming the first ever competitors at a European Games, but the event was dominated by Russia.

The Russians won both of the synchronised events that took place today, with Valeriya Filenkara and Daria Kulagina finishing top of the duet free routine qualification rounds before Russia's team also won the free routine event later in the day. Ukraine and Spain made up the top three on both occasions, as was widely expected would be the case.

Indeed, it has been a good day overall for Russia. They won their opening match of the women's water polo too, giving them as much success as they could have hoped for at this stage of the Games. Their 13-4 victory over Slovakia was not as emphatic as some of the other results in the pool this afternoon, but it was still a comfortable success.

A very promising start for the Russians, then, and they are expected to be a major force in the final medal table in Baku. They have brought the largest team to the European Games, with 359 athletes representing the country, 70 more than host nation Azerbaijan in second.

In contrast, Great Britain have brought a relatively small team consisting of 160 athletes, and things did not start too well for them this afternoon. The women's team got their water polo campaign off to a tricky start against one of the tournament favourites in the form of Greece, and they were put to the sword in a 20-2 defeat.

After the heavy defeat, Sports Mole grabbed a word with the team's captain Izzy Dean and head coach Nick Buller, with both stressing the quality difference between themselves and the Greeks. Dean was also punished for three separate exclusions in an eventful game, mostly for the wrong reasons. You can check out that full interview here.

There will be plenty of chances for Team GB to make up for that indifferent start, however, with the European Games taking place over 17 days and featuring 253 events in 20 sports. In total, more than 6,000 athletes are due to compete in Baku, with 50 nations being represented at the tournament.

It is a particularly historic occasion for one nation in particular, with Kosovo competing in their first ever Olympic event. They have brought only 18 athletes to Azerbaijan and aren't expected to make a serious impression on the medal table, but it is still a landmark stage for the country.

Baku was the sole bidder for this competition and received 38 of 48 available votes when it came to deciding where the Games would take place. A lot of work has gone into the venues, including the brand new Olympic Stadium where tonight's opening ceremony will take place. It is a state-of-the-art arena and can hold more than 68,000 spectators.

It is expected to be full tonight too, which should help to officially get the inaugural European Games off to a memorable start. The stadium itself only opened back in March, but it has already been confirmed as the venue for the quarter-finals and three group games in Euro 2020, which will travel around the continent. That, along with these Games, is a major coup for Azerbaijan, but it is certainly a stadium worthy of holding such events.

The stadium is now also the home of the Azerbaijani football team, who had formerly been housed at the Tofiq Bahramov Stadium - named after the linesman who (in)famously awarded Geoff Hurst's second goal in the 1966 World Cup final at Wembley. That venue will host archery at the European Games, incidentally.

The Olympic Stadium will host the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the athletics, although far from being the flagship of the European Games, a bizarre athletics schedule means that the two-day event could fly a little under the radar. Individual medals aren't up for grabs for the competitors, with victory in an event instead resulting in points for their team, who would then be awarded the medal.

Team GB have not entered a team into the athletics, but one area where they are expected to do well is in the ring. Great Britain have named a strong squad for the boxing, with Olympic gold medallist Nicola Adams included in there. She has also been named as the flag bearer for GB, so will lead the way for her country when the teams are introduced this evening.

Earlier today, Sports Mole caught up with a number of the British boxers who will be competing over the next few weeks, and you can check out all of our exclusive content from that and throughout the European Games by clicking here.

Indeed, you can find everything you need to know throughout the inaugural European Games on our competition homepage. News on each team and Team GB results articles will be available, in addition to an up-to-date medal table.

Some of the more unfortunate news regarding the Games on Thursday centred around an accident in the Athletes' Village, when three Austrian synchronised swimmers were hit by a bus. Two of the athletes escaped serious injury, but concern continues to surround Vanessa Sahinovic, who is currently in an induced coma.

That rather overshadowed the synchronised swimming event earlier today, but in the water polo there was a series of emphatic results. Netherlands opened that event up and were the biggest winners on the day, thrashing Israel 29-1 to start their campaign off in style.

There were also big wins for the likes of Hungary, Spain and Italy, in addition to Greece's resounding win over Britain. Indeed, the closest of the six matches that took place on the opening day saw Russia beat Slovakia 13-4, so the gulf in class between the teams competing was evident throughout the day.

As well as the athletes being paraded and the show itself, the opening ceremony will also see the European Games flame complete its journey around Azerbaijan. The Olympic Stadium will be the 60th and final location of the tour, with the torch having passed within an hour of 99% of the population of Azerbaijan.

As mentioned earlier, the Olympic Stadium is a fitting venue for the torch to complete its journey, but it isn't the only impressive stadium at these Games. Azerbaijan have invested heavily in their stadia, building a new complex to house the swimming, diving, water polo, beach volleyball, beach soccer and basketball. The Baku Aquatics Centre in particular is a state-of-the-art venue.

That's my stint on the commentary over and done with! Let me hand you over to our editor Neil Wilkes, who will guide you through the pre-show and the main event itself...

There's a mantra among music writers: "Don't bore us, get to the chorus." With that in mind, my sincere apologies for Barney's elongated verse just then but all is not lost because I'm here now with the chorus.

I'm currently seated in Baku's Olympic Stadium, where it's just gone 8pm and we are just minutes away from the start of the pre-show. That's set to start at 20.15 local time ('2015' - look what they did there!) and will serve as foreplay for the main event, which begins at 5pm UK time.

I'm strictly forbidden from revealing anything about the ceremony before it begins - and I've been abiding by all regulations here, trust me - but I don't think it's much of a spoiler to tell you that there will be flags. Lots of flags.

Also not really a spoiler, I'll be getting progressively intoxicated as the ceremony unfolds over the next few hours. Clink clink!

Among the attendees tonight is Russian president Vladimir Putin, who would certainly not approve of my "colourful" shirt. Security is tighter than Steve Bruce's chinos, I can tell you that.

The opening ceremony has been put together by Dimitris Papaoiannou, who was previously in charge of the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

The set tonight took three months to erect but will be removed in just three days before the two-day athletics megamix begins on June 21.

As for the set, this is our view right now:

Awaiting tonight's opening ceremony #Baku2015 pic.twitter.com/l1rS2VL3xz

— Jack Prescott (@JackPrescott86) June 12, 2015

What I assume is an Azeri band has just begun to play. The frontman sounds like Bryan Adams and is flapping around maniacally with a keyboard guitar. The crowd seem to be mildly enjoying this.

Their next audio treat for us is a song with the main hook "Don't bring me down, down, DOWN!" Both Shazam and Google are failing me on this one, so I still have no idea who they are. But this is pretty catchy to be fair. The crowd watches on.

It's a full house here at the Olympic Stadium, by the way, save for one entire section on the bottom level which is suspiciously empty.

A woman in red appears on stage in front of the band and starts singing along. At least I think that's what she's attempting to do. I've quite possibly insulted the Azerbaijani equivalent of Lulu there, so apologies.

Our two hosts for the pre-show come out on stage. Think of Chiles and Bleakley from the heydey of Daybreak.

Elnur Huseynov, who represented Azerbaijan at this year's Eurovision last month, arrives to perform his song 'Hour of the Wolf'. The crowd watches on.

Bleakley - let's just agree to call them Chiles and Bleakley from now on, shall we? - flirts shamelessly with Huseynov and encourages him to wail random noises into the microphone.

Bleakley takes a break from trying it on with Huseynov to initiate a Mexican wave. The camera then reveals Chiles, who's now sitting among the crowd to participate in the wave. What a japester!

Women of varying ages, clad in white, are performing an elegant dance on the stage. The crowd goes wild when the camera focuses on one particular woman. I'm guessing that she's their equivalent of Mary Berry.

The women have now been joined by a bunch of decidedly more energetic men, all of whom have come dressed as Marouane Fellaini.

A message has just come on screen asking us to switch on our mobile phone lights. There appears to be no reason for this.

Chiles and Bleakley leave the stage. The pre-show is now over and there are 15 minutes on the clock until the start of the ceremony.

Light round of applause from the crowd as the performers get into position. I'm not allowed to say what we're seeing at the moment, remember, so just talk among yourselves for the next 10 minutes or so.

4-minute warning. An oft-forgotten Mark Owen classic.

Some beautiful shots of the Olympic Stadium appear on screen as a helicopter flies overhead.

Two minutes to go. The crowd are starting to get pumped up for the main event now, although I wouldn't exactly describe the atmosphere as "electric" just yet.

And we're off. A singer called Alim Qasimov is singing what is known as a "mugham". That's not an instruction that thieves give to other thieves but a "complex art form that weds classical poetry and musical improvisation".

A countdown from 24 appears on screen. This symbolises 24 years since Azerbaijan regained its independence following the collapse of Soviet Russia.

Almost 1,000 female dancers are on stage, all wearing multicoloured dresses. As they change the colours of the dresses, they reveal different patterns and motifs taken from the Azerbaijan's most famous carpets.

16,000 square meters of fabric have been used to create these dresses and by the looks of it, it was a good use of fabric. Huge cheers from the crowd as the ladies' final swish reveals the flag of Azerbaijan.

The entire crowd - press included - stand for an orchestral version of the national anthem of Azerbaijan. The stadium lights up with the colours of the flag (blue, red and green) and fireworks ejaculate from the roof of the stadium at the song's key moments.

A late addition to the lineup for tonight has just been confirmed - Lady Gaga! I'm not sure at which point she'll appear during the ceremony but we do know that she'll be performing a version of John Lennon's 'Imagine' for the crowd. Quite probably while clopping a stiletto heel on a piano.

On screen we're seeing a video of the torch's journey across Azerbaijan over the last 48 days. The video ends as the final torchbearer, Azerbaijani judoka Ilham Zakiyev, enters the stadium.

Accompanying him is Said Guliyev, who won gold in taekwondo at the 2014 Youth Olympics. Zakiyev is blind after being injured by a bullet to the head while he was in the army. This must be an incredibly emotional moment for him.

Zakiyev uses the torch to light a fire in a pit in the middle of the platform. As he does, lava appears to be flowing under cracks in the platform.

Just been handed a press release which reveals that Gaga will perform 'Imagine' at the end of the Parade of Nations (aka The Big Old Flags Bit). Interestingly, the press release ends with "Outside of music, she's noted for her philanthropic work and social activism, including LGBT rights and HIV/AIDS prevention."

Back on stage now, and we're seeing an elongated puppet-like performance depicting differing scenery: there's a palace, a school... A DRAGON.

A giant pomegranate is loitering just off stage.

The large pomegranate has now moved into the centre of the stage. It looks a bit full to me....

The pomegranate bursts to reveal its seeds: hundreds of red balloons which float majestically around the stadium.

Now the bit we've all been waiting for - FLAGS! First out, as per tradition, is Greece.

This part is scheduled to last precisely 39 minutes and 52 seconds. Once the entering athletes have completed their lap of the stage, they are being seated in the area I mentioned earlier.

Those curious things the placard bearers are wearing are "sculptural patterns featuring traditional Azerbaijani patterns". They look very Gaga to me. Maybe she'll be wearing one too.

We're as far as Georgia, so you know what's coming shortly...

That's right, Germany!

But more importantly than that of course, Great Britain! Nicola Adams wafts the Union Jack proudly as she leads her troops.

A decent chunk of the attending athletes are juniors, by the way, so this will be a very special moment for them.

We're as far as Norway now. Coincidentally, Norway are taking on host nation Azerbaijan in a Euro 2016 qualifier in a couple hours' time.

Apparently the music is playing at a rate of 122 beats per minute in order to "encourage the athletes to walk just that little bit faster". If that's the case then I think we should be aiming for 200 beats per minute come Rio.

Huge cheers from the home crowd as Russia enter the stadium. The female athletes seem to be going for the naughty schoolgirl look.

Slovakia are now entering. Just seven more to go!

Get a move on Slovakia!

Spain are basically running onto the stage. That's more like it. There's going to be a bit of a human traffic jam though if Slovakia don't pick up the pace in front.

A standing ovation for Turkey and the biggest noise of the night from the crowd.

The penultimate team, Ukraine, come out with the home crowd still on their feet.

The final team now, Azerbaijan! Judoka champ Elmar Gasimov leads his troops as the home crowd make a right racket. Finally, the atmosphere is electric.

The last of the Azerbaijani athletes make their way off stage and take their seats in the stands, while the sultry placard bearers stomp to new positions.

The placard bearers are now being rotated around the stage as if they're in a microwave. Careful on those heels, girls!

Fireworks are variously ejaculating from the roof while the flags are waved energetically.

Gaga appears - a true vision in white - and takes her place at the piano to perform 'Imagine'. Thankfully for all of us she's sitting where she's supposed to and those stiletto heels are on the floor. For now.

Gaga getting predictably more ridiculous with her delivery now. Those feet will be up on the keys, mark my words.

The flag fans have spoken and here we have ANOTHER FLAG. This time it's the European Olympic Commitee Flag, beloved of so many.

The European Olympic Committee Flag has been raised and we can all now die happy.

A short video gives a nod to the people who work at CERN, while in the stadium, the particle accelerator is mimicked on an LED strip running around the stadium.

A large white bull, ridden by a girl, flies across the stage. I have this dream nightly.

Now it's time for my second favourite part of these ceremonies (after The Flags) - it's The Speeches.

The First Lady of Azerbaijan, who's also been serving as chair of the organising committee for the Baku Games, is doing her part in welcoming everyone and thanking various important people. I'm still thinking about the bull, to be honest.

Father Todd Unctuous is now up on stage telling the athletes to be athletic.

My mistake - according to my notes that's actually Patrick Hickey, president of the European Olympic Committee. I bet he has that flag design on his curtains.

The President of Azerbaijan formally declares the Games open and the most potent of firework ejaculations yet erupts from the roof and within the stadium itself.

Our old mate Alim Qasimov is back - and this time he means business. He performs another mugham but now he's aboard a flying carpet! Take that, Jamie Raven.

Meanwhile, a woman walks slowly across stage, with grass springing up from below her feet as she goes. Eventually, the Caspian Sea begins to form and she walks across the water.

A hundred men emerge from beneath the ground, before making their way to the edge of the stage and performing a ritual-like Azerbaijani dance. The crowd are loving this. Dancing zombies, what's not to love?

Some seriously impressive staging here. A mountain has emerged from the centre of the stage, lit up by ancient symbols known as Petroglyphs.

A man emerges from the top of the mountain and looks down at the woman, who is thankfully not drowning in the Caspian Sea by this point.

The mountain retreats and the man makes his way towards the woman, setting fire to the ground as he goes. I think it's fair to call this a pyromaniacal rage.

That rage continues as the man throws a burning rock at an eclipse. But it's not an eclipse of course - it's the cauldron, which bursts into flames and rises upright.

Fireworks light the night sky as 20,000 red balloons descend from the roof onto the spectators below.

I'm being attacked by balloons.

All of tonight's performers gather around the edge of the stage and wave at members of the crowd being suffocated by an influx of "pomegranate seeds".

Highlights of the evening are playing out on the big screens and that, my friends, is a convenient juncture to leave you for tonight. We've got full coverage of Baku coming up over the next few weeks so stick with us and you won't miss a beat. I'm off now to go stab some balloons. Good night!