So you wanna go to a Music Festival but either your friends don’t want to go or they already have plans (or you don’t have friends, which is cool too, I’m not judging). Well, I’ve ventured out to a couple of music festivals on my own, so allow me to shed some light on this experience. 

Pros

1.) You get to do what you want!

From my experience of going solo and joining groups of people, I honestly found that I enjoyed being separate from the group more than being with the group. When I was with the group, someone always wanted to do something else like take a bathroom break or get some drinks. This caused the rest of the group to wait on one or two people. There’s also the stress of keeping up with everyone in the group. However, when I was solo I did not have to wait on anyone. I could come and go as I pleased. I was joined a group of 12 people at EDC Orlando 2019. I had a ton of fun, but in order to move together through the crowds we had to lock arms and snake our way through. When you have twelve people doing this it requires a lot of communication and can become annoying when someone lets go and splits half the group up. Normally, this wouldn’t be a big deal, but when you’re at a festival with thousands of people, cell phone service isn’t that reliable and if you do try to call someone to meet up, good luck hearing them over the roaring crowds all around. A method that my group utilized was actually including the time we sent a text message in the text message itself. This way if the text took forever to reach the recipient, they would see when the sender sent the text and could respond appropriately.

2.) Depending on the type of person you are, you won’t be responsible for other people.

I am the type of person that usual takes care of the others in my friend group. I don’t drink, smoke, or sacrifice small children to the dark lord, so there have been countless times I have went to parties or clubs with my friends and had to leave early to take one of them home because they got too drunk or got into a fight. If you have done this before I’m sure you understand how annoying it can be. I specifically remember one instance where I had just paid the cover charge and gotten into Club La’Vela, only to have to walk right back out because my friend behind me was already out of his mind and was refused entry. I ended up leaving, walking him back to the apartment, and putting him to bed while I decided to sleep on the floor. (I really didn’t mind sleeping on the floor since you never really know what all has happened in hotel beds.) The rest of our group stayed at the club for a couple of hours before returning home.

3.) You will probably make more friends at the festival.

When you are in a group going to a music festival, it seems the group mostly stays together and keeps to themselves. When you go solo, the only way for you to have any human interaction is to talk with random people. I found that all of the random people I spoke with were very welcoming and thought that I was a boss for going solo (when ya got it, ya got it). I was able to mingle with whatever group I wanted without having to worry about losing track of anyone. It seemed that people were more apt to invite me to come hangout because I was going solo. I guess they don’t mind including one other person, but want to avoid inviting large groups of people to join them.

4.)  You will expand your horizons.

Going solo will force you out of your comfort zone and push you to explore. Don’t want to be bored? You’re going to have to get out there and find something to do. You cannot rely on friends to keep you busy. This will allow you to really take in the whole experience and appreciate going solo. Sure going with a group of people is fun, but most of your attention will remain inside the group which prevents you from focusing on the activity at hand. Remember the Club La’Vela trip I mentioned in item number 2 above? Well, that was just one of the nights we went. On the final night of our stay in Florida, we all got dressed up and decided to make our way back to the club for one last hoorah. We got to the front of the line and found out that the cover charge for the night was $50.00 (the DJ Robbie Rivera was playing that night). This deterred every single one of the people in my group, but not me. I said: I don’t care, I want to go in and it’s the last night. So, I paid the cover charge, went in, and had the most fun I had had during the entire vacation. I even started my own dance circle, which was pretty cool if you ask me. The rest of my friend group went back to the hotel room, drank, and went to sleep. This was the first time I had went to a club totally alone.

5.) Most people will never do something like this.

I can’t speak for everybody, but most of the people I know are scared/too nervous to go to something like a large music festival in another state solo. I always like standing out and doing stuff that most people haven’t, what about you?

Cons

1.) If you don’t plan well, it can be more expensive.

This depends on if you would share the cost of a room, food, and transportation with your friends. I don’t like it when other people pay for me, so this con doesn’t really affect me at all. Honestly, it could be more expensive if you go with a group, depending on what the group wants to do. Personally, I don’t count this as a con, but I felt that I should at least list it.

2.) You can get bored.

True. You can become bored because you are responsible for coming up with and getting to all of the activities. On the flip side, this could make it more exciting since you have to figure everything out completely on your own. Just don’t let yourself get stuck in your room watching TV all day until the time of the festival. Get out and do something!

3.) It’s something that you’ve never done before, so you might be anxious.

Of course! That’s what makes it so much more exciting!

4.) At this point I’m trying to think of actual cons, but, for me, I’m having trouble coming up with cons. I enjoy going alone as well as going with friends.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are many pros to going to a music festival alone and these pros apply to traveling anywhere alone. I would highly recommend heading to a music festival solo. When you go solo, you are in total control of everything. You’re tired? Go back to the room. Hungry? Grab some grub. Really want to see that death metal set that your friends would NEVER want to go to? Well, throw on your combat boots and get in the mosh pit! You will have entertaining stories to tell once you return home. None of my close friends have actually got up and went to a festival totally alone. They’ve asked me about my experience and I tell them that I love it! The biggest concern you probably have is that you will get bored and not know what to do with your time. This is a possibility, but only if you refuse to get out there and explore! I’ve met some really cool people at music festivals from all walks of life and made some incredible memories. Now get that airplane ticket and get to that music festival! Let me know your experience!