Two weeks before Splendour in the Grass, my friend Nat messaged me. The long and short of it: “There may be a ticket up for grabs.” Nat’s girlfriend had decided not to go to Splendour, which meant there was a free ticket – and I very selflessly stepped up to take it.
Unfortunately, Nat was working almost the entire time. This meant that I—a young, fairly introverted woman—was going to spend most of Splendour by myself.
Never one to turn down a free ticket, I went along, and I’m glad I did. While I did spend a chunk of time with a couple of awesome women I met at Splendour last year, and their friends, I spent most of my time alone, and ended up loving it.
Sure, at times I would look longingly at a big group of friends laughing, drinking and posing for pics, but all in all, it was an amazing experience. Here are a few things I learned.
Just say hi
If I could go back in time and tell younger me one thing, it would be to just get over myself and talk to strangers. Most of the time, they’re pretty nice – and at a festival like Splendour, almost everyone is happy to have a chat.
“Let us jam out to Music Band!”
I’m fairly introverted, but I didn’t particularly fancy going three days by myself, awkwardly pretending to check my phone to disguise the fact that I was drinking alone. Luckily, every time I was waiting in a line, standing in a crowd, or waiting at the bar, there was someone nearby who was more than happy to have a chat.
I’m not particularly spiritual, but one of my high school teachers was really into The Secret, which is about thinking good things and having the universe deliver good things to you. Here’s my music festival adaptation of this: just be a nice person, and most people will be nice back, and maybe even offer you a cigarette. You’re welcome.
Enjoy the music
Not everyone is at a huge music festival like Splendour for the music, and that’s totally fine. There’s also comedy and art and craft and a lot of alcohol. But if you’re going to a music festival solo, it’s the perfect opportunity to see a lot of music.
No annoying lacrosse bro tagalongs with no chill!
Big groups of friends can be hard to marshal. You’re drinking and chatting on the grass, and next minute, that band you wanted to see is halfway through their set. But as a sprightly single person, you can wander from stage to stage, and worm your way through a crowd in a way that a big group of people can’t.
Embrace being lonely
I work full-time in an office, play sport, and have a partner and a dog and housemates. That adds up to a lot of people-time, and not a lot of alone time.
Despite being surrounded by tens of thousands of people at Splendour, there was something very refreshing being by myself.
Sure, I only have about three photos of myself from the entire weekend, all taken by the same group of friends I was lucky enough to tag along with for a while, but it’s fine – I’m not Insta-famous anyway.
Given I spent most of my uni years going to gigs alone as a photographer, I’m pretty used to being alone at gigs. There’s something very zen about dancing in a mosh by yourself, surrounded by strangers. Try it.
Be free!
Look, the selfish and brilliant upside of going to a festival alone is that you’re free to do exactly what you want. Want to spend hours waiting by the barrier for your favourite band? Do it. Need to duck back to your campsite for a quick nap? Go ahead.
You don’t have to spend hours fighting terrible reception and huge crowds when you inevitably lose your friends, or miss a band that you wanted to see, or be stuck at a gig you don’t really care about.
I’m not advocating ditching your friends to go to a music festival alone – but if you’re ever in a position where you could go to a festival by yourself, don’t turn it away.
