2-913-905 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Fete at the Crystal Palace, on Saturday last - The Guides' Band, 1854. Fund-raising event at Sydenham in south London. '...the band of the French Imperial Regiment Les Guides had come from Paris...the various bands were placed too near each other; and, as no precaution was taken to prevent more than one playing at a time, two or three different tunes were sometimes heard together, producing "unprepared discords" not recognised in any system of harmony. On the Terrace, the confusion was still greater. The space on which the combined bands were to assemble not having been kept clear, the whole ground was covered with a dense mass of people, through which the performers had to struggle the best way they could; and, at length, when the performance began, not half their number had been got together. However...the famous band of the Guides did not belie their reputation'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.