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TUCSON - While the Wildcats and Sun Devils battle it out for the Territorial Cup the two schools' marching bands work together at half time.

Every year for the Duel in the Desert the Pride of Arizona and the Pride of the Southwest come together for an amazing halftime show. The event not only gives the marching bands a chance to get together but offers up an opportunity for the fans to see a show that only comes around once a year.

Scott Matlick, UA Associate Director of Athletic Music, explains how big the show really is, "We have over five hundred and fifty performers, we play something that's new and current, forty tubas, two drumlines and fifty to one hundred dancers. It's always a lot of fun."

If it's not impressive enough that there are nearly 600 band members, dancers and cheerleaders out on the field maybe it's how fast the show comes together. The two schools met at Ironwood Ridge High School this afternoon for a short one hour practice and rehearsal. That's all the time the two bands get before they have to hit the field for half time.

Matlick explains that there are things they do to make it a little easier on themselves to organize a whole show on game day alone.

"There isn't as much movement on the field as there normally is. So it usually is more of a standstill," explains Matlick. "So that makes things easier to put together on the day of the game because we usually only have an hour to put the whole thing together."

This year the two marching bands will perform songs from the musical group "Fun.".