Things got a bit more ‘Guns and Roses’ than ‘Rose of Tralee’ in the Dome last night.

Arizona Rose Kayla Gray bravely allowed host Dáithí Ó Sé to give her a tattoo – with a little help from tattoo artist Emma Brosnan.

During the Nine O’Clock News he tattooed her arm with a commemorative rose to mark the 60th year of the event – definitely a first for the festival.

That may have blown all other party pieces out of the water but there was still plenty to entertain on stage, from weightlifting to guitar playing and dog training.

Laura Vines, the Dublin Rose, might be used to working with wild animals but she thankfully didn’t bring her work with her when she walked out on stage. Instead, she was accompanied by Penny her rescue dog, who helped her demonstrate how to train your four-legged friend.

Penny even managed to give Dáithí a high five – but that didn’t stop the Kerryman whipping out a Dublin jersey and pretending to mop up Penny’s mess.

There was even a poem as the ban on verse introduced in 2016 was lifted, with Washington DC Rose Molly Eastman reciting a verse penned by her Irish great-grandfather.

“He was from Kilfree in Co Sligo and this was written during the early 1900s, when a lot of Irish families were leaving Ireland due to the economy and they were going to America to seek better fortune,” said the 25-year-old.

“He was often the one who would drive families on a horse and cart from Sligo to Kilfree Junction – which was the furthest train stop in the west – so these families could get to Dublin to take the ship to America.

“He wrote this poem, ‘My Charming Sweet Kilfree’, in the perspective of the families who were leaving Ireland – it is kind of bittersweet.”

She works for a US senator in DC, and gave quite a diplomatic answer when it came to President Donald Trump. “I respect the office of the President, President Trump is my president. A lot of people have varied opinions,” she said.

“It is reflective of the state of our society, good and bad.”

Meanwhile, in true Rose of Tralee fashion, there were plenty of other high achievers in the mix.

Cork Rose Stephanie McCarthy is a neuroscientist and mum-of-two and told how she had to take the sash out of her daughter Kayla’s school bag.

Mayo Rose Nicole Loughlin (22), a recent NUI Galway graduate, told how she spent a summer in a Malawi orphanage with her uncle, and now has started a campaign ‘Let’s Make it Happen’ to build a school there.

There was some heavy lifting from Meath Rose Meghan Byrne. The primary school teacher wowed the crowd with her special talent – lifting 100kg live on stage.

And while Maura Higgins might have been flying the flag for Longford in ‘Love Island’, Marie Brady held her own as the Longford Rose.

She performed a pitch-perfect rendition of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Dreams’ on guitar.

The Germany Rose, Beatrice Beiderwieden, shed a tear when her granny Lola appeared on video to wish her the best of luck in the competition.

It was a special 26th birthday for one escort too as Dingle man Jamie Flannery was chosen as Rose Escort of the Year.

Melbourne Rose Jordan Balfry put paid to any talk of just being a “lovely girl” – she works in a maximum security all-men’s prison.

She is a forensic mental health occupational therapist there, which she admits can be challenging.

“I come home a bit more rocked than I like to,” she told Dáithi. “Everyone has a story, everyone has a narrative,” she said of the prisoners she helps.

The South Australian Rose was the first millennium baby to grace the stage of the Dome.

Simone Hendrick Buchanan (19), originally from Kerry, sang Mo Ghile Mear.

And waiting in the wings for the big show are 16 more Roses, who will take the stage today from 8pm on RTÉ One.

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