Beating Retreat Beating Retreat is a military ceremony dating back to 16th century England and was first used to recall nearby patrolling units to their castle . History . Originally it was known as watch setting and was initiated at sunset by the firing of a single round from " the evening gun " . An order from the army of James II ( England ) , otherwise James VII of Scotland dated to 18 June 1690 had his drums beating an order for his troops to retreat and a later order , from William III in 1694 read " The Drum Major and Drummers of the Regiment which gives a Captain of the Main Guard are to beat the Retreat through the large street , or as may be ordered . They are to be answered by all the Drummers of the guards , and by four Drummers of each Regiment in their respective Quarters " . However , either or both orders may refer to the ceremonial tattoo . For the first time ever , a foreign band was allowed to play at the Beating Retreat on 5 June 2008 . This band was that of the first Battalion Royal Malay Regiment , who had been helping to guard London , by mounting guards at the palaces . Amongst their performance pieces were arrangements of number of well known pieces from Film . Modern British Ceremony . These days , most armed forces in the Commonwealth perform some ceremonial form of the retreat and it is often used as a proving test for new band members as well as a practice for difficult drill moves such as the Spin Wheel . The ceremonies generally involve the marching of a band , the firing of cannon and other decorative presentations . In many cases a castle is used as a prop or a backdrop for the parade ( as in the Edinburgh Military Tattoo ) . The London version takes place on Horseguards Parade , and is performed at by several military bands included the Massed bands of the Foot Guards , and the Mounted Bands of the Household Cavalry , as well as other performances which change each year . In 2008 , the other performances were made by the Band of the Royal Malay Regiment , the Pipes and Drums of the Scots Guards , and the mounted Fanfare Trumpets and Timpani Drummers . Each Year on two successive summer evenings starting at 21 : 00 hours , Beating Retreat is performed on Horseguards Parade , with a salute to the monarch or another member of the Royal Family . In 2010 , these evenings were Wednesday 9 June and Thursday 10 June . Beating Retreat on Horseguards is open to be viewed by the public by ticket entry . Tickets are usually bought before the event and in 2010 , were sold for the price of £15 : 00 An unreliable method of obtaining tickets is from Ticket touts or on the gate during the day of the Beating Retreat Ceremony , where Army officials are sometimes seen to sell spare tickets to interested members of the public . 2012 ' s ceremony celebrated the bicentenary of the great Battle of Borodino . The Massed Bands of Her Majesty ' s Royal Marines . The Massed Bands of Her Majesty ' s Royal Marines , numbering some two hundred , perform their Beating Retreat ceremony every three years at London ' s Horse Guards Parade in celebration of the birthday of their Captain General , the His Royal Highness Prince Phillip , Duke of Edinburgh . Because of its popularity , it is generally over three nights . This pageant of military music , and precision drill dates back to the 16th century . The most recent event was in June 2012 in honour of the Queen ' s Diamond Jubilee . The Royal Marines ceremony should not be confused with that of the Army which takes place every year , also in June . 4 to 5 bands belonging to the Royal Marines Band Service compose the Massed Bands for the ceremony proper . Australia . The Australian Defence Force traditional ceremony of Beating Retreat was handed down from the British Army . The first ceremony including performance of Tchaikovsky ' s " 1812 Overture " was held at the Royal Military College , Duntroon in 1968 . Although this inaugural performance was a relatively low - key affair , the ceremony has since become an annual event at RMC and is well supported by the service community and the general public . The modern ceremony is thought to have its origins in the 16th century and combines three customs . The first custom was originally performed by drummers only , marching on the ramparts to warn the soldiers that evening guard duties would soon commence . It also signalled soldiers outside the fortifications and labourers in the fields that the gates were about to be closed and they should retire within the walls for the night . The second custom was practised on battlefields in past times when the fighting ceased at sunset . Following the Beating Retreat , many of the old regiments would say a prayer or sing a hymn in honour of their fallen , and the evening guard would fire three musket volleys " to put flight to the evil spirits of the enemy dead " . The final custom derives from the practice of lodging the Regimental Colour in the Colour Ensign ' s quarter when the evening guard was mounted . In modern times , that custom was replaced by the lowering of the national flag . 2007 Ceremony . The 2007 ceremony was conducted on the nights of 27 & 28 September . It was attended by Chief of the Defence Force ACM Angus Houston and Chief of the Army LTGEN Peter Leahy . The ceremony included parade ground marching , changing of the sentries , trooping of the Regimental Colour , inspection of the guards , firing of the evening gun , guards advance and volley firing ( with the service issue Steyr AUG ) , evening hymn , retreat and lowering of the Australian flag , the pipers lament and marching off of the Regimental Colour . Music was performed by an ensemble of the Royal Military College Band and the Australian Army Band Tasmania , and included " All That Jazz " from the musical Chicago , Michael Bublé ' s " Spider - Man Theme " , Christina Aguilera ' s " Candyman " , the Celtic instrumental " Toss the Feathers " and instrumental versions of Phil Collins ' " Against All Odds " and two Elvis Presley songs ( in a " Tribute to the King " ) . The ceremony culminated with the " 1812 Overture " accompanied by a battery of 105 mm Hamel light field guns , and a 5 - minute fireworks display . India . In India it officially denotes the end of Republic Day festivities . It is conducted on the evening of 29 January , the third day after the Republic Day . It is performed by the bands of the three wings of the military , the Indian Army , Indian Navy and Indian Air Force . The venue is Raisina Hill s and an adjacent square , Vijay Chowk , flanked by the north and south block of the Rashtrapati Bhavan ( President ' s Palace ) towards the end of Rajpath . The Chief Guest of the function is the President of India who arrives escorted by the President ' s Bodyguards ( PBG ) , a cavalry unit . When the President begins to arrive , a Fanfare is sounded by the trumpeters of the Brigade of the Guards on their natural trumpets , and then the PBG commander asks the unit to give the National Salute , which is followed by the playing of the Indian National Anthem , Jana Gana Mana , by the Massed Bands , and at the same time by the unfurling of the Flag of India on the flagpole right at the Vijay Chowk . The ceremony was started in the early 1950s when Major Roberts of the Indian Army developed the ceremony of display by the massed bands in which Military Bands , Pipes and Drums Bands , Buglers and Trumpeters from various Army Regiments besides bands Navy and Air Force take part . Ceremony . The ceremony starts by the massed bands of the three services marching in unison , playing popular marching tunes like Colonel Bogey March , Sons of the Brave and Qadam Qadam Badaye Ja . The Fanfare by buglers then is followed by the bands of the Indian Army marching forward in quick time , then breaking into slow time , then by the ' compound march ' involving movements to form intricate and beautiful patterns . The massed military bands , again , breaks into quick time and goes back to the farthest end of Raisina Hills . Then the Pipes and Drums of the Indian Army play traditional Scottish tunes and Indian tunes like " Gurkha Brigade " , Neer ' s " Sagar Samraat " and " Chaandni " . This band also does a compound march and formation numbers . The last bands to perform are the combined bands of the Navy and the Air Force . This part of the ceremony ends with their compound march . One such beating the retreat ceremony by the Armed Forces bands was during the 1982 Asian Games New Delhi closing ceremony for which the credit goes to retired Indian Army ' s Music Director Late Harold Joseph , Indian Navy ' s Jerome Rogrigues and Indian Navy ' s M S Neer , one of the greatest musician , conductor , composer and instrumentalist of the Indian Armed Forces bands , who had led the massed bands at the ASIAD 82 closing ceremony . The three band contingents march forward and take position close to the President ' s seat . The drummers , mostly from the pipe bands , give a solo performance , known as the Drummer ' s Call . A regular feature of this pageant is the last tune played before the Retreat , when the National Flag is lowered . It is the famous Christian Hymn written by Henry Francis Lyte , " Abide With Me " set to music by W . M . Monk and one of Mahatma Gandhi ' s personal hymns , has remain part of the ceremony over the years when many other foreign tunes were phased out to make way for Indian tunes , especially during the 2011 ceremony . The chimes made by the tubular bells , placed quite at a distance , creates a mesmerising ambiance . This is followed by the bugle call for Retreat by the buglers , and all the flags are slowly brought down . The band master then marches to the President and requests permission to take the bands away , and informs that the closing ceremony is now complete . The bands march back playing a popular martial tune and the official march of the Armed Forces , Saare Jahan Se Achcha . As soon as the bands cross Raisina Hills a spectacular illumination display is set up on the North and South Blocks of the Parliament building . As the PBG ' s horse mounted troops arrive back in after the bands leave , the band stops as another band is stationed to play the National Anthem again as the President receives the final National Salute for the day by the PBG , before the President and the PBG depart with the bands leading the way by then now dispersed on Rajpath leading to the Presidential residence and the Secretariat Buildings . India / Pakistan . The Wagah border closing ' lowering of the flags ' ceremony or The Beating Retreat ceremony is a daily military practice that the security forces of India ( Border Security Force ) and Pakistan ( Pakistan Rangers ) have jointly followed since 1959 . The ceremony has been filmed and broadcast by Michael Palin for one of his television around - the - world travel programs ; he described it as a display of " carefully choreographed contempt . " See also . List of Foot Guards Bands :