Spirit of the Mountain Marching Band all tuned up to support the Flames in Mobile, Ala.

For the second time in its history, Liberty University’s Spirit of the Mountain Marching Band will be performing at a bowl game when the Flames Football team takes on Eastern Michigan in this Saturday’s LendingTree Bowl, set for 5:45 p.m. EST at Hancock Whitney Stadium in Mobile, Ala.

The game will be broadcast on ESPN.

“The marching band loves to travel,” Director of Bands Dr. Stephen Kerr said. “We haven’t been going to any away games, so this is our travel opportunity, and the students really look forward to it.”

Kerr directed Spirit of the Mountain when it traveled to the 2019 Cure Bowl at Expedia Stadium, but due to COVID-19 restrictions, the band was unable to return to Orlando, Fla., for last year’s Cure Bowl.

After finishing finals earlier this week, the 250 band members will gather on campus for a final practice on Wednesday before leaving Lynchburg, Va., prior to sunrise Thursday morning on five 54-passenger buses. They will be joined by 10 band staff members. The band’s gear and uniforms will be sent by tractor-trailer to Mobile on Wednesday.

Once there, the band will hold a final rehearsal for its game-day performance on Friday morning before spending a brief time at a nearby beach after lunch and participating in a LendingTree Bowl parade and pep rally in downtown Mobile that night.

Prior to Saturday evening’s kickoff, the marching band will share the pregame performance with the Eagles’ marching band, with each school offered the same amount of time to perform. The marching bands will follow the same routine for the halftime show.

The Spirit of the Mountain will perform the first half of its 2021 halftime show, “Sunny with a Chance,” during the pregame festivities and will play the second half for the halftime show.

“We are fully engaged in taking this trip — having a great time when we perform and being a testimony for the university while watching our football team (while playing amongst the crowd),” Kerr said.

Kerr said that although performing at a bowl game requires the students to pour in an incredible amount of hard work and preparation time, he and his fellow staff members prioritize making joy-filled memories along the way.

“We try to build in as much fun as we possibly can,” he said. “It’s an exciting time to support our team in a bowl game situation, and we get to enjoy a little bit warmer weather. All the while, the students don’t have to worry about studies because it is Christmas Break.”

And the long journey there and back will give the band members, who Kerr said are a tight-knit community, time to relax and catch up with their friends.

“It really is an enjoyable time for us to get together,” he said. “The Liberty University Marching Band is like a family. It’s even like a small church. We love to play, and we play for an audience of One, first and foremost, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.”