Marching band lovers will be able to enjoy a free show Monday, starting at 7 p.m., without the distraction of football as bands from all three high schools perform at the fifth annual Marching Band Exhibition, hosted this year at Heritage High School.

Rockdale County High School will go first with the theme “The End Revealed?" with the pieces "The Final Countdown," "The End of the World as We Know It," and finishing up with "Revelation Song."

Salem will perform next with the theme of "Urban Pulse: The night in the city." Their pieces will be "Tempered Steel" - to represent a daytime traffic jam, "As the Evening Begins" - portraying the beauty of the city at night, and "I Gotta Feeling" - portraying the city nightlife, finishing up with "Tonight."

Host school Heritage will bring a classic finish with the theme "All That Jazz," with the pieces "All That Jazz," "What a Wonderful World," and "Big Noise." 

SHS Band Director Ben Tingle said, "The audience is there specifically to see the bands perform. It’s a chance to see what the other schools in the county are performing. And the kids get to support each other."

HHS Band Director Scott Smith said, “This show was chosen because we felt like it would be entertaining to audiences and we wanted to feature some of our very talented students as soloists.”

RCHS Band Director Scott Stanton said of their theme this year, "The staff and I were at an away game and we started throwing out some song ideas, and all of a sudden it was ‘why don’t we do an end of the world’ show?... The songs just started flowing. As the year went on, it kept getting more refined. It was an exciting process."

RCHS will also host the Greater Atlanta Marching Festival later this year on Oct. 22.