On this day, 17 March 2000, the Solid Silver Sixties tour played St David’s Hall, Cardiff.
The package included some of the biggest bands of the Sixties, Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Searchers, the Swinging Blue Jeans and Peter Sarstedt.
Gerry Marsden formed the group Gerry and the Pacemakers in 1956 with his brother Fred, Les Chadwick, and Arthur McMahon. They rivalled the Beatles early in their career, playing in the same areas of Hamburg and Liverpool. Originally called Gerry Marsden and the Mars Bars, they had to change their name following a complaint by the Mars chocolate company.
The Searchers were formed as a skiffle group in Liverpool in 1959 by John McNally and Mike Pender, the band took their name from the 1956 John Ford western film The Searchers.
The Swinging Blue Jeans formed in 1957, when Bruce McCaskill formed a jazz influenced skiffle sextet group called the Bluegenes.
Peter Sarstedt was best known for his 1969 UK number one single, "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?", a portrait of a poor-born girl Marie-Claire who becomes a member of the European jet set. The song topped the chart in 14 countries.
