Heritage Open Day: A band of musicians playing 16th and 17th century music. From medieval times to the early 19th century, every British town and city of any note had a band of Waites. The Waites of Gloucester performed from the later Elizabethan period until at least the end of James II's reign. Their four modern counterparts play music of this era on reproduction instruments, such as shawms, curtals, and recorders.