So you did it. You bought tickets for an artist you’ve been dying to see for months, saved up your earnings for weeks, and booked the best seats at the venue. But there’s just one problem: you don’t have anyone to go with.
While I wouldn’t consider myself a music connoisseur, I’ve been to my fair share of concerts — several of which I attended alone. In fact, my first concert was BTS in 2018 where I went by myself, something I vividly remember because I had my SAT the same day (ironically, it was my highest scoring take). Nevertheless, going to a concert alone is a fearful yet underrated feat. While a good majority of concert-goers come in pairs or groups, there’s always that chance that no one you interact with in your life is interested in the same musical artist you are, especially if it is a niche one, and even more so if the tickets aren’t cheap. So it may not come as a surprise if you find yourself as a little fish in a big sea.
But this shouldn’t stop you from going. Here are three reasons why you should consider going to your next concert by yourself.
- Explore Your Music Taste
I like to think of myself as a fairly impulsive person — after seeing my friend get a wolf cut, I booked an appointment to get curtain bangs just two days later). As such, I have bought tickets for artists who I only know five songs from, max. Granted, I can’t beat a $25 admission fee; and if it means not camping out in front of the venue, then I’ll take it. By going to concerts alone, you’re not binded in trying to find people who listen to the same person or group you do.
2. Meet New People…Or Don’t!
To be frank, several of the concerts I went to in the past were ones I tagged along with someone on Reddit or Facebook. So yes, I didn’t attend these concerts alone, but I still met new people. One of my favorite memories was right before the pandemic when I went to an Eric Nam concert with a girl I befriended through a Facebook group. I had high hopes after we hit it off — thankfully so since we got in line at 1 p.m. on a freezing February afternoon — but this only heightened when we slowly became friends with the people in line around us. The fact that we all came from different walks of life and backgrounds only made it more worthwhile. After spending the next six hours together and a post-concert sushi dinner, it really felt like one of the best nights in my life.
On the other hand, you also have no obligation to interact with the people around you. You could make it a night about yourself and just jam out to anything and everything. Take the time to actually listen to the opening act instead of zoning out. Give yourself time to explore the city or try the trendy restaurants next door.
3. Nobody Cares
If there’s one takeaway from this article, it’s this: who cares. I’ve felt waves of anxiety and social insignificance in the hours spent waiting in line and at the venue for concerts I went to alone. That is, until I realized: I’m never going to see these people again. Even if any of them show a semblance of judgement towards me, flash-forward a few hours later and I don’t even remember who was next to me in line. Maybe it’s my social anxiety that has driven me to feel so hypervigilant and assume that everyone else feels the same as well. So if you’re part of that fraction who feels the same, believe me when I tell you it’s worth it.