Dáithí O Sé was calmness personified when we caught up with him at the end of this afternoon's rehearsals for the opening night of The Rose of Tralee.
"I'm feeling great," he told RTÉ Entertainment. "We rehearsed all 18 Roses early on and the party pieces. I'm involved in a few of them, which is always good craic as well.
Click here to see all the Roses.
"We see all this on paper during the week, then we get to meet the girls, then we get to see the party pieces and stuff. Then you see them on the big stage and you think: oh my God, that's really going to work.
"We have a very, very busy show tonight. We've Derek Ryan as well, an Irish country music star. We're really looking forward to him - and he's back in again tomorrow night singing The Rose of Tralee - so I'm looking forward to that."
After a break when he catches an hour's sleep, it's back to the Dome for Dáithí and the show itself. He tends to slip in unnoticed as he's dressed in civvies.
"I'm over here for seven," he says. "I find it's easier to get through the crowd when you don't have a tux on . . . I get dressed over here and then at eight o'clock we're on."
We caught up with a bunch of Roses ahead of tonight's big show #RoseofTralee pic.twitter.com/K0I5S8sdvd
— Entertainment on RTÉ (@RTE_Ents) August 21, 2017
The 2017 Rose of Tralee will be available to watch for free, live and on-demand from anywhere in the world with RTÉ Player.
In the lead up to the main event, RTÉ Player has also created a special Rose of Tralee collection featuring some of the top moments from the festival throughout the years.
The Rose of Tralee begins tonight on RTÉ One at 8.00pm.
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