ONE of Cumbria's biggest summer shows - at least for pop fans of a certain generation - sees pop superstars Boyzone arrive in the region.

Their Cartmel Racecourse appearance on Friday June 29 comes as the Irish boy band mark 25 years together with a major arena tour and a brand-new album.

It will be their first visit to the area, though as seasoned race-day headliners, they know what they're letting themselves in for, says Shane Lynch.

"I don't think we've been up there before - the closest is probably Appleby or Carlisle, so it will be nice to travel a little more west," he says.

"We've been doing the racecourse shows for around seven years, so we have a good idea what to expect. They are more about the event as a whole, so people are there to enjoy the horses and we're putting the cherry on top.

"You're a little limited to what you can do, but we try and bring as much of our stage show and lights as possible. It's the racecourse's event, and we're there to complement it.

"Generally, they are always a great atmosphere, and it's kind of a different head space for us, playing outdoors while the sun is out - the one thing that never changes is that we have 20-odd top 10 hits to perform!"

Following the success of previous live music concerts, including Tom Jones, Simply Red and Jools Holland, Cartmel Racecourse is gearing up for arguably its most high-profile live performance to date.

Shane, along with fellow founder members Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham and Ronan Keating, will sing through their impressive collection of singles. As well as having sold more than 25 million records worldwide, Boyzone have had 21 singles in the top 40 UK charts, including six number ones.

Love Me for a Reason, Words, No Matter What, So Good and Father and Son will no doubt be included in what promises to be one of the biggest sing-alongs South Cumbria has ever known.

"This show will just be the hits," says Shane.

"Fans don't want to hear new songs that they don't know, so we always wait until people have had time to familiarise themselves with the new songs.

"We're pretty much good to go now. We're all 100 per cent happy with the set-list and can't wait to get out on the road.

"It doesn't take much for us to get back into it - we've been practising for 25 years! We just meet up and instantly know what we're doing.

"This is going to be our first gig for quite some time, so naturally we're excited."

Their recent time has been spent working on a new album, for which Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran have supposedly been involved in writing some of the songs, and will be released to coincide with a huge 25th anniversary tour that runs into 2019.

While some are speculating that it could be their big farewell to the fans, Shane says that he enjoys being in Boyzone as much now as he ever has.

"We've always been doing shows and tours, but we were always determined to focus on each other's careers outside of Boyzone, whether that's solo work, acting, or motorsport in my own case. But we still love being Boyzone, and we do it whenever the opportunity arises.

"This year is the first year in a long time that we've really come back to it in a big way - it's a really big year for us with the 25th anniversary tour coming up and an album, which we've just finished working on after spending just over a year on it.

"Our job on the record is done, so it's just the technical stuff that goes into it. In my honest opinion, and my view is that it is the best album we've ever done. We've really analysed how people listen to music nowadays, on a play list, on shuffle, with different artists and genres, and we've incorporated that into the record.

"This album represents all the different dynamics of the band, and all the members too."

The 25-year milestone serves to highlight that Boyzone are now one of the longest-running pop acts of all-time, and certainly among the UK and Ireland's most successful bands.

But for Shane, it's just a number - there's still more to come.

"I think it's more startling for other people," he says.

"When you mention to others that we've been doing it for 25 years, then it kind of puts a figure on their own lives, but for us it's not so much of a surprise.

"We're all family, and we've done so much together, but it doesn't feel like such a long, long time since the early days."

Boyzone appear at Cartmel Racecourse on Friday June 29. Full ticket information and a list of all the summer racing fixtures for Cartmel Racecourse is available at www.cartmel-racecourse.co.uk