“I can do whatever I want at the moment”: Why more people go to parties, festivals and clubs alone | music

FFrom solo travel to solo dining, people have increasingly embraced socializing on their own in the years since the pandemic — even in the highly social contexts of live music and club culture.

A recent survey by Ticketmaster showed that the number of people attending a weekend or day festival alone rose from 8% in 2019 to 29% this year. Reading and Leeds Festival introduced a camping area for solo attendees this year, joining Download’s long-standing ‘lone wolf’ area, and there are a growing number of social media pages such as London Solo Ravers, and WhatsApp groups such as the Untitled Rave Community Project, for people venturing out To nightclubs alone.

“If I go to an event with someone else, I can spend the night doing their night, whatever they want,” says Anaïs Espinosa, 26, from London. “When I’m alone, I can do whatever I want at that moment, whether it’s getting a drink or being up front where the DJ is. You’re just acting on pure instinct. I feel like a little character in a video game in a funny story.”

Dr Karenza Moore, a researcher into club culture and recreational drug use at Newcastle University, says the main reason people go it alone is “a special interest in a type of music”: Maybe you like happy hardcore but struggle to find anyone else who shares your enthusiasm for 180bpm madness. This is reflected in Ticketmaster’s findings as well, which showed that interest in music was the main attraction for solo punters at festivals. With the cost of living crisis, people may have difficulty finding enthusiastic friends who can also afford to go out. “If you don’t know anyone and you want to go to that kind of thing, you just have to be OK with going alone,” says Amy Jagger, a 26-year-old Manchester resident who has gone solo to a number of electronic music nights and queer parties.

Since the pandemic, there has been a rise in meet-ups such as one-on-one nights, group events for strangers, offline hangouts and walking groups, reducing the stigma around being ‘alone’. Two other reasons cited in Ticketmaster’s research were a sense of freedom and the opportunity to meet like-minded people, and Moore adds that many of us are tired of meeting and interacting with people online: “People really appreciate doing things in real life.”

Cat Rossi, a professor at the University of Creative Arts in Surrey, who has a research interest in club culture, suggests that the rise of solo parties may be another facet of how “people are more interested in consuming experiences than things” today. There may be a more pessimistic motive at work: “What you want is experience – and you also want to share it.” That experience on social media.”

But anyone who engages in Instagram likes will be in the minority, and Moore says many loners end up finding a sense of togetherness: “You always go alone, and then you’re never alone.”

Ben Walton, 30, from North Wales, has been out on his own since he was 23, doing so two or three times a month. “I get to meet new people from different backgrounds, people I may never see again,” he says. “There’s beauty in that.” Jagger agrees. During her time at Awakenings, a techno festival in the Netherlands, she met a group of Dutch friends she had never met before, something she says she never would have done if she was with people she already knew. “Getting to know them over the weekend was interesting. It’s great, especially if you’re in a different country, because you get to experience a different culture.”

This trend is facilitated in part by social media. People are accustomed to “a hybrid digital and in-person society, and there’s a lot of research on how the Internet can connect you to communities that aren’t on your doorstep, but are yours in the sense that you have common interests,” Rossi says.

After enjoying similar events with friends for about a decade, Espinoza started going out on her own this year, due to her age and confidence. Some research suggests that the average age of festival-goers is increasing, and that older people are still going out frequently, which may explain the increasing number of people attending solo, something Moore also points to as a possible driver.

Furthermore, there has been a focus on wellbeing and harm reduction at live music events, meaning that “they are seen as safe: people know that if something happens, they can go and talk to staff,” says Moore. For Espinoza, it depends on the audience: “In general, I feel safer being alone at a loud party than in a club, where people usually try to pull and drink large amounts of alcohol, while at a rave, people are usually there just for the music and dancing.” Jagger is a little more skeptical. “I don’t feel physically safe during loud parties because thrashing, harassment and assault are still very common,” she says. “But I often feel more accepted.”

But although it may be difficult at first to “let go,” Espinoza says, working on your own can also increase self-esteem. “It’s absolutely certain,” Jagger says. “I know I’m not dependent on others, and I can create great experiences myself, too.”