The first halftime performance of the year for the Redhawks marching band, featuring every student in the program in a show for the next few weeks, takes to the turf on Friday at Memorial Stadium.

“We have three weeks of what’s called a Spirit Show, it’s super simple and only involves six different moves but every single person in the band program participates,” director Jamie Weaver said. “There’s no props they have to move, no front ensemble that has to move; it’s really a stripped-down, easy-to-travel-with version of something that’s actually entertaining for the crowd. That show will have ‘New Rules’ by Dua Lipa, and ‘Starships’ by Nicki Minaj.” 

This year’s halftime performance is six years in the making. 

“This year’s show is entitled Cloud 9, and it’s a blend of things that are kind of sky-related, cloud-related,” Weaver said. “The idea of a Cloud 9 show has actually been sitting in a folder in our back pockets since the fall of 2013, like you come up with ideas and you just put them aside and wait until you get the right moment. Watching something that’s now six years old really come to truth, that’s what’s exciting about it.”

Junior Olivia O’Brien is eager to see the show unfold. 

“I really like the theme this year; the concept and the color scheme looks really nice, especially with the guard dresses and the new shirts,” she said. “The music is based off of a lot of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, so ‘Ode to Joy’ is in there and I just like how all the music flows together. Also, this year we have a really big flute solo and brass choir, which is going to be really cool.” 

From David Holsinger to Maria Schneider, Cloud 9 features a plethora of wind, choral, and jazz pieces, which all come together in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. 

“There’s a wind ensemble called To Tame the Perilous Skies by David Holsinger, a choral piece called Cloudburst by Eric Whitacre, jazz piece called Sky Blue by Maria Schneider, and it’s all blended in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, which the final movement is ‘Ode to Joy,’ which everybody knows,” Weaver said. “So it’s a blend of all things that are cloudy feeling, sky feeling and the No. 9 of Beethoven.”