After his bike got a flat tire during a pre-show ride, a stranded Dave Matthews hitchhiked to his own concert with some fans who were on the way there.
The rocker had gone out for a ride prior to his Saturday show in Hershey, Pa., when his back tire popped, leaving him stranded without a cell phone.
Emily Kraus and her boyfriend, who were running late to the concert, weren’t the only ones. They noticed a hitchhiker and pulled over … to their astonishment.
Thanks to a recently-installed bicycle rack on their car, the fans were able to give the singer-songwriter and his gear a lift to Hersheypark Stadium.
Along the way, they chatted about how the tour was going and his daughter’s summer camp schedules, a surreal exchange for a star-struck fan.
“We didn’t know how to make conversation with him,” she laughed.
The duo was rewarded for their efforts with dinner backstage, a pair of front-row tickets and a shout-out from Matthews during the sold-out show.
A longtime Matthews fan since age 9, Kraus only had to look to her concert tickets signed “Thanks for the ride” to realize it wasn’t all just a dream.
“My cheeks still hurt from smiling, giggling and laughing all night long,” Kraus told her local CBS 21 News afterward. “This will always be remembered.”