Nigel and Thea’s wedding took place in Nantwich, Cheshire on 1st October 2005. The ceremony was at Reaseheath Hall before a small gathering including Rod, Marie, Ian and Dave (with Rod as one of the witnesses). The party moved on to a local bistro for the wedding breakfast followed by a larger party in the evening.
Rod and the Ghosts fired up at about 10 p.m. in an incarnation significant in that for the first time in a live situation, Paul Burgess joined them on drums - thus making it the first ever live appearance of the Stamping Ground studio lineup. The set-list included (at the bride & groom’s request) a number of Dylan covers which the Ghosts (with Roy Wyke on drums) had performed at Dylan Day in January. The running order was as follows:
Whisky Highway
Candlelight
All Grown Up & Nowhere To Go
Down In The Flood
Can’t Do Right For Doing Wrong
Blue Interior
Stamping Ground
Blowin’ In The Wind
Blind Willie McTell
Whole Lifestyle Thing
It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry
Judging from the reaction of those present, the group was voted a "hit" and a combination well worth repeating. Rod also got his first chance to play electric slide on one of his recently-acquired vintage Japanese Teisco guitars. Following the Ghosts’ set, Nigel & Thea’s regular guitarist Jim Kirkpatrick joined in to perform Kinks’ klassik All Day And All Of The Night, continuing the Dylan theme with Like A Rolling Stone, followed by his own Full Time Occupation from his forthcoming solo album (which features Ian Thomson and Paul Burgess on bass & drums). There were further guest appearances by Mary Lee Cortes and the bride and groom, with John Tonks (Thea’s regular drummer) stepping in to give Paul a break - notably on Dave Hull-Denholm’s standout version of the Nick Lowe classic What’s So Funny About Peace, Love & Understanding? with Nigel on backing vocals. The party reluctantly wound up at midnight with a rousing version of I Saw Her Standing There featuring just about everybody.
At a reunion meeting over coffee the following morning, the night was generally agreed to have been an unqualified success and the meeting broke up with the express intention of finding an excuse to do it all again sometime.