Razorback Band Promises Half-Time Show Will Be a Thriller

The Razorback Marching Band has done Halloween half-time shows before.

And they’ve performed the Michael Jackson song Thriller in the past.

This year they’ll be combining the two in what might be described as a Monster Mash Up – with audience participation.

“I think it will be a lot of fun – for the fans and for the band,” said Chris Knighten, director of the marching band.

Here’s what the fans at Saturday’s game against Vanderbilt can expect during half-time: a show that starts off as a “50’s throwback” with the band doing more playing than marching, while skits are acted out on the field – skits and music invoking zombies, Batman, the Phantom of the Opera, Iron Man and, of course, Big Red.

“We have back-to-back home games this month, and we don’t like to repeat a show,” said Knighten. “We wanted to give fans something different.”

And if all that isn’t  different enough, there’s the grand finale: Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

“There’s a trend on campuses now called ‘flash mobs,’ where crowds of people just show up somewhere and dance,” Knighten explained. “And there’s also a zombie craze: last spring the students on campus were playing a live-action ‘Zombie Invasion’ game. We thought we’d combine those and try to create a ‘zombie flash mob’ in the stands when we play Thriller.”

The idea is for the fans in the stands to do a Michael Jackson “zombie dance” during the song. Instead of trying to teach people the complex moves during half time, band members made an instructional video and posted it on their YouTube site. Knighten says the video has been getting plenty of hits.

But will football fans really do the dance?

“I have no idea,” says Knighten. “I think a lot of students have watched the video. I’m hoping we’ll at least get some little pockets of people dancing in the stands. But who knows? I definitely think the show will be a hit, though.”

Fans who are watching the game on tv, or listening to it on the radio don’t have to miss the half-time performance, either.

The Arkansas Alumni Association will be streaming the show live, and for free, through the RazorVision website. For instructions on how to watch it go to the Alumni Association site.