Over Half Of Young People Have Gone To Concerts Alone, And They Seem Pretty Stoked About It

Getty Image

Going to a show by yourself might seem taboo to some people, but it’s not as odd as you may think: A recent study from UK Music (via NME) shows that nearly two thirds of young people have gone to a concert by themselves.

Based on a survey of 500 people between the ages of 18 and 24, 65 percent said they’ve been to a show alone, and 98 percent of those people said they’d be happy to do it again, probably because 84 percent of them said they felt the music sounded better when without company. These people had a bunch of different reasons for going solo: 38 percent said their friends couldn’t make it, 37 percent said their pals had different taste, and 31 percent said checking out the show at all was a last-minute decision.

https://twitter.com/fkavtea/status/916169043152797697

Countless online articles and Reddit threads — like this one, for example — have sung the praises of seeing live music on your own, citing a ton of solid reasons: There’s no waiting on other people, you can stand or sit where you want, it can be easier to meet new people, you can stay as long or as little as you’d like, you can focus on the music more, there’s no worrying about if anybody else is having a good time, and ultimately, you have more control over the situation.

https://twitter.com/brandywign/status/914178872903716865

There’s an entire other set of benefits to going to a concert with friends, of course, but this study shows that checking out a gig by yourself is also a valid option, and in some scenarios, can be a better experience.