What’s better than scoring tickets to see one of your favorite bands play?  Finding the lead on the side of the road on the way to the concert.

This is just what happened to fan Emily Kraus while she was on the way to the Dave Matthews Band concert on Saturday.  She and her boyfriend were a few miles from Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, Pennsylvania when they came upon a stranded bicyclist who turned out to be none other than Dave Matthews.

Matthews had apparently ducked out for a quick bicycle ride before the show when his back tire popped.  Since he didn’t have his cell phone with him, Matthews had no choice but to hoof it until Kraus and her boyfriend spotted him.  Kraus was stunned when she saw Matthews on the side of the road, and despite being starstruck, she and her boyfriend wasted no time offering Matthews a lift. “So, we saw him on the other side of the road and we pulled my car [over],” Kraus said. “He says I’ve never seen a bike rack like this before, so [my boyfriend, Joe] walks over and he’s helping him put it on and I’m standing here and I’m holding his helmet.”

While transporting Matthews to the stadium, she tried to talk to him over the seven-minute ride, but was almost at a loss for words.  “We didn’t know how to make conversation with him in fact, so we were talking about his tour and where he had come from,” Kraus said. “He had just been in Cincinnati and he said ‘I’m taking a short break after this one because I have to drop my daughters off at camp.’ He was just a very humble guy.”

Matthews was quite grateful for the kindness of the two motorists and treated the two to dinner, backstage passes to his show and gave them front row seats with “Thanks for the ride!” written on them.  To make an amazing night even better for Kraus, who has been a DMB fan since she was nine years old, Matthews dedicated a song to her during the show.  Matthews also told the story of how he made it to the concert during the show, which likely made for some envious fans.

When Kraus woke up the next day, she thought the whole encounter was a dream at first, until finding the tickets autographed by Matthews.  “This will always be remembered,” Kraus said.