Not even a lightning storm could derail Dave Matthews Band's cosmic Ruoff performance

It was too epic for a mere mortal with only these two hands to describe, but I will try.

It started with a long Friday evening bass solo.

Dave Matthews, covered in sweat like the rest of us, began strumming away as he launched into a lilting cover of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower." His group — horns, keys, the whole merry band — brought a rush of good noise behind him.

No guitar solo, I thought to myself. Strange. This band can handle it. An organ solo hits instead.

But then, the guitar solo. But this isn't "All Along the Watchtower."

It's "Stairway to Heaven."

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One top five all-time solo exchanged for another, and then here comes Matthews in full screaming falsetto singing the Led Zeppelin outro.

That was still not enough. We go back to "All Along the Watchtower" for a huge finish.

As God as my witness, when the song ended the set, a lightning storm kicked in — booming thunder, though drowned out by applause, with visible strikes surging down.

Is the — is the wind actually going to begin to howl? Did Hendrix do this?

The band soon re-emerged for an encore, but it was wholly unnecessary. Something unforgettable had just occurred.

I am not a member of the annual DMB Ruoff/Deer Creek mini-residency fan club. At least, I wasn't at the beginning of the night.

Last year, we opted to send an intern, Griffin Wiles, on a lark. He loved the show and did an excellent job.

So this year, even though I had already seen eight bands at three Ruoff shows this week, I was determined to see it for myself.

No. 9 was the best of the lot.

A packed house was treated to an astounding allotment of musical textures, singing styles and general wizardry. Even the boring or weird songs, of which there were only a few, had a little something interesting to chew on — a whistle or saxophone solo, a startling tempo change.

I can pick out Matthews's radio hits. We got a solid "Tripping Billies" rendition to open up the show and "Where Are You Going" toward the end.

But the stuff I didn't know was even better, and the stuff that wasn't written by Matthews was somehow even better than that.

In addition to "All Along the Stairway," Matthews dropped his otherwise fixed guitar from his hands and did a note-perfect cover of "Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel.

It was not a Matthews-esque treatment. It was exactly the way Gabriel does it. Probably better in 2023. Matthews was '80s dancing and doing an impeccable impression.

DM is astounding. He gets tremendous gas mileage out of that voice, with vocals in a variety of styles, tones and volumes painted across a two-and-a-half-hour set.

But the B in DMB is astounding. The B is on fire. The B can cook.

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"Grey Street" had people dancing in the aisles. Matthews was up there belting, but then the band launched into an instrumental break with a sublime dueling horn solo. The dancing people began screeching as loud as they possible could. They damn near popped my earplugs out (nine performances in six days can hurt, if you aren't careful).

Another moment zoomed over my level of understanding, but it was nice all the same.

After "So Damn Lucky," the crowd started singing the chorus from Sly and the Family Stone's "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)." The band knew it was coming, so it was just me out of the loop.

"Break Free' turned into the type of jamming I like: A long, worthwhile organ solo that builds with the horns and drums into a satisfying conclusion. They're all playing the same song up there. No one is getting lost on a nine-minute journey.

The only real negative was I had a partially obstructed view of the stage, but half of it looked great. The sound was good, and that's what matters.

Plus, I spent some time people watching.

It was, as I had been warned, a sufficiently bro-y crowd.

I heard men in their 40s talking about beer pong. If I were to ask this crowd what its favorite Matthew McConaughey film is, the answers would contain both depth and nuance. If it needed to sneak out of its favorite sorority house under cover of total darkness, this crowd could navigate on memory alone.

That's not to say folks weren't friendly. The couple next to me could sense I was the fish out of water and asked me about my job.

The audience also brought tremendous energy. So, go forth. Bro if you want to. Bro around the world.

And what's all this I hear about Saturday usually being the better show of the two? Who is this Satur-Dave, and how could that possibly be true?

Unlike 99% of my reviews, you can go see what the fuss is about on Saturday, if you desire.

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Rory Appleton is the pop culture reporter and columnist at IndyStar. Contact him at 317-552-9044 and [email protected], or follow him on Twitter at @RoryDoesPhonics.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Review: Dave Matthews Band electric (literally) in Indianapolis