Dave left the stage at around 10:20 to thunderous applause from a crowd that had already been standing throughout the show. For several minutes everybody kept clapping, knowing what was to come (more or less). What would a Dave Matthews concert be without a kick-ass encore to send the people off with?

When the band returned to the stage, that thunderous applause turned to thunder, period. The reflections of lightning that we had seen earlier had gotten closer, to the point where large portions of sky were lighting up purple just outside the rim of the stadium. Count to three and the thunder boomed less than a mile away.

The opening riffs to "Two Step" started playing. My friend Chris and several people in our section started jumping up and down. They had been calling for that song all night. Less than a minute into the intro, it started to drizzle. From where I was standing, I couldn’t quite understand the altered lyrics that Dave was singing; simply that he was singing about Rain. I can’t verify the truth of this, but others who were sitting closer said that they heard him say the line, "Let it rain down," and that’s when it happened.

The skies let loose. Within a matter of seconds, this light drizzle had turned into an all out raging downpour. The crowd started cheering and kept right on dancing along to the music. Lightning bolts streaked over our heads and the thunder was, at times powerful enough to challenge the band for a few seconds. The loud speakers were no match for the subsequent echoes from the crowd after each crash of thunder. The rain kept increasing in intensity. The harder it flew, the louder we roared. Even the small chunks of hail that had started to fall couldn’t send us ducking for cover.

Never have I seen so many people in one place unified in such a way. Even the band was forgotten momentarily. Our faces were turned to the sky, our hands in the air accepting what the heavens were unleashing on us. For ten glorious minutes the band played and the storm raged, each feeding off the other’s energy.

By the end of this unprecedented encore, the band had actually become secondary, playing back-up to the forces of nature. Seeing that their lyrics were getting consumed by the thunder and the crowd, the band jammed, playing just enough DMB signature licks to keep us dancing while we gave ourselves over to this complete and total visceral experience. When finally the band slammed out that last note, the applause crescendoed through the stadium in appreciation for what had just been given to us. The lights came up and the cheering continued even as we were climbing the steps to the exits. The catharsis would continue even out into the parking lot.

Within ten minutes, the rains had eased back to a light drizzle again, and by the time Chris and I got to the car, it had all but stopped. The lightning continued off in the distance, mirroring the remnant energy that was still high and present amongst the departing fans. Some bands pay thousand of dollars for pyrotechnics and weird lighting effects. But for no money at all, the Dave Matthews Band was able to apparently harness the power of God into the greatest special effects choreography I think I shall ever experience. My feeble words could never truly describe the awesome power that was running over and through the stadium that night, but for me and the other 50,000 or so there, it will be an experience that will live within us for years to come.