Question . . . Where can you see the legendary James Brown, UK chart-toppers The Beautiful South, top Irish acts Picture House and Brian Kennedy, plus a whole host of other sensational live acts completely free of charge?
Answer: At this year's Rose of Tralee Festival, which takes place in the Kingdom's capital from August 20th to 24th inclusive.
Surely some mistake here? The one and only Mr. James Brown live at the Rose of Tralee? Mr Sex Machine, The Hardest Working Man in Showbusines, Soul Brother Number One, Mr Get On The Good Foot James Brown . . . No you're not imagining it. It's absolutely true. The Godfather of Soul himself will be strutting his not inconsiderable stuff on the Streets of Tralee at the last Rose of Tralee this side of the new millennium.
As for the ever-popular Beautiful South, their Kerry appearance will be the last show of their current world tour, making it a must for fans of the best-selling kings of ironic pop. Two of Ireland's top live attractions, Brian Kennedy recently signed to a new deal with Sony Records, while the popular Dublin band Picture House, fresh from their triumphant appearance with the Corrs at Lansdowne Road, will also be at Tralee 99. Other acts confirmed so far include local hero Christie Hennessy and Abba revivalists Bjorn Again with many other bands performing on the specially constructed stages and at the Dome during the festival
"The Rose Rocks," is the official catch-phrase of the new look Rose of Tralee, which celebrates 41 years in existence this year. "It's a complete refocus of the Rose of Tralee as a brand," says festival Chief Executive Noreen Cassidy, "The Rose of Tralee has always been known as Ireland's premier event but there was a feeling that it had lost its way a little over the last ten years.
"We're repositioning ourselves to take account of the changing times and making it even more attractive for a wider audience. We've a younger board of directors, we've changed our corporate image, we've a new logo and our own range of branded merchandise is available over the Internet."
The free concerts will take place on the streets of Tralee, which are well used to catering for the enormous crowds that pile into town during the festival "We've entertainment on the streets from 11 in the morning till late at night," offers Cassidy.
The dramatic new makeover for the Festival appears to have paid off even before the festivities begin in earnest. Hotels and guesthouses are already reporting a 40% increase in bookings and 99 looks like being a record year in terms of crowds.
Cassidy is keen to stress, however, that the core of the event is still the traditional Rose competition with Roses from all over the world competing for the coveted title of Rose of Tralee. As usual the competition will be televised by RTE, but in a new departure it will also be broadcast on the World Wide Web. It'll be shown live on the offical Rose of Tralee website on Monday 23rd August (8.00pm GMT) and Tuesday 24th August (8.00pm GMT).

James Brown

James Brown's status as "The Godfather of Soul" remains undiminished. Indeed, he has picked up a new generation of fans who have become familiar with his funk grooves through their frequent use as samples on rap records. A charter member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Brown added to his collections of accolades when he received a special lifetime achievement Grammy Award.
Over a 39-year period, James Brown has amassed a total of 98 entries on Billboard's top 40 R&B singles Chart, a record unsurpassed by any other artist. Seventeen of them reached number one, a feat topped only by Stevie Wonder and Louis Jordan, and equalled only by Aretha Franklin.
Brown recorded his first single Please Please Please in 1956 for the Federal label following it with a string of gritty R&B inflected hits including 'Think', 'Night Train' and 'Try Me'.
He scored his first Top 10 pop single in 1965 with Papa's Got A Brand New Bag , and the hits kept coming for the next decade, including classics such as 'I Got You (I Feel Good)', Get Up I Feel Like Being A Sex Machine and 'It's A Man's World'. He gradually phased out his band the Flames, and the gospel and blues structure of his early records gave way to open-ended vamps that emphasised his rhythmically riveting sandpaper vocals and the complex funk syncopations of his band. His innovations during this period had a profound influence on popular music styles around the world, including funk, rock, Afro-pop, disco and eventually rap. Browns last appearance in Ireland was in the summer of `98 where he was very much on form. Not to be missed.

THE Beautiful South

Following the disbandment of the British indie-pop group the Housemartins in 1989, vocalist Paul Heaton and drummer David Hemmingway formed the Beautiful South
Where their previous group relied on jazzy guitars and witty, wry lyrics, the Beautiful South boasted a more sophisticated, jazzy pop sound, layered with keyboards, R&B-inflected female backing vocals and, occasionally, light orchestrations. Often, the group's relaxed, catchy songs contradicted the sarcastic, cynical thrust of the lyrics.
Nevertheless, the band's pleasant arrangements often tempered whatever bitterness there was in Heaton's lyrics, and that's part of the reason why the Beautiful South became popular within their native Britain during the 90s. Though the group never found a niche in America by the middle of the decade, their records weren't even being released in the US their string of melodic singles made them one of the most successful, if one of the least flashy, bands in Britain.
"We just think of the catchiest melody we can come up with and run with it," Heaton told Hot Press last year. "It's not all that difficult for us really. We write songs quite quickly, we don't do loads of them and whittle them down like other bands do. We just write and record enough for an album and a couple of B-sides."
Their popularity was confirmed by the astonishing success of their 1994 singles compilation, Carry on Up the Charts, which became one of the biggest-selling albums in British history. This was followed by yet another number one album Blue Is The Colour containing yet more top twenty singles including 'Don't Marry Her' and 'Rotterdam'. The band's popularity continues unabated the current album Quench, one of their most critically acclaimed to date has yielded another batch of smashes including 'Perfect 10', 'Dumb', and the current single 'Table'. Anyone who saw them at Dublin Castle last May or at their Olympia show in November of last year will be in no doubt as to their live prowess.

Picture House

With seven hit singles, two top selling albums (Shine Box and Karmarama), and a touring schedule that has taken them around Europe several times over, guesting with some of the biggest names in rock, Picture House continue to be one of the most popular homegrown acts of recent years
Their appeal is simple and straightforward. With an instinctive knack for creating engaging, instantly accessible tunes, Picture House are proof positive in the power of a song with a well turned out melody and a catchy chorus, bathed in deft harmonies. Concentrating on this classic pop framework has meant the band have never been slaves to musical trends.
"What you see and what you hear is pretty much what you get," says lead singer Dave Browne. "We just write songs, straightforward songs with melodies and lyrics and we record them and perform them the best way we can. We don't have any hidden agenda and we're not here to preach a message."
But it's as a touring act that Picture House have earned most plaudits. Equally at home in large stadiums or small clubs, the band have that rare ability to communicate to audiences and to elicit an instant response. Crowd participation is mandatory at their live shows and it's a rare Picture House gig that doesn't have audiences singing the refrain to one of their many crowd pleasers such as 'Somebody Somewhere', 'I Know Better Now' or 'All The Time In The World'.
In Ireland the band's popularity is unmatched. As well as being firm festival favourites, they've played headlining gigs at the Olympia, HQ, and Vicar Street. Last month they performed at Landsowne Road before 40,000 people as special guests of The Corrs. They also recently attracted a crowd of over 11,000 people to a unique open-air gig at Leopardstown Racecourse.

Brian Kennedy

This popular blue-eyed soul singer s debut album The Great War Of Words featured a strong collection of hypnotic, plaintive songs including such favourites as Captured and Hollow . He then teamed up with ex-Fairground Attraction songwriter Mark E Nevin to form a short-lived collective called Sweetmouth who recorded the critically acclaimed Goodbye To Songtown.
Having acted as a sideman and vocal foil for Van Morrison for several years, Kennedy broke lose in 1996 with his own solo album A Better Man. It went on to become an Irish best-seller yielding several radio hits including his own superb version of Van s Crazy Love , Karl Wallinger s Message In A Box and Life, Love And Happiness . The success of A Better Man culminated in Kennedy scooping a coveted Hot Press Award for Best Solo Male in 1997.
Since then he s toured widely, occasionally re-uniting with Van Morrison for touring and recording purposes as well as concentrating on his own solo career. His Tralee appearance heralds the beginning of a new chapter in Kennedy s career he s just signed a deal with Sony Records. These Days , a collaboration with Boyzone s Ronan Keating, is due out in September with a brand new album expected early in the New Year. n