You’re a concert-lover. You live and breathe music. When you’re not soaking in music live, you’re trying to find the next artist you can’t stop listening to. And when you find them, you count the days until you can see them live. The problem is, you don’t know anyone who loves music as much as you do. But, lucky you, every time you go to a concert, you’re surrounded by people who might have the same interests. Well, theoretically anyways. If only you knew how to meet people at concerts.

It’s scary to approach new people, especially if you’re new to a city, but I find it helpful to envision it in a reverse situation. if someone were to randomly approach you, how would you react? It depends, right? It depends on how you’re approached. People are naturally wary of the unknown, but people are also curious.

Keep that in mind when you approach others. Let’s walk through some steps that might help you be more effective and outgoing.

How to meet people at concerts

1. Approach gently

Some people react well to someone who comes on strong. But that can be high risk. Most people won’t react poorly to someone who comes across as relatively normal. One thing to keep in mind is, you don’t want to be completely uninteresting or unassuming. So there is a middle ground you want to find. But test it out and see what works best for you. The consequences of failure are basically zero.

2. Explore a shared interest

Oh wait, you’re both at a concert. Of a band you both most likely enjoy. This one is easy. Next.

3. Further the relationship

We’ve all met someone while slightly inebriated who we enjoyed spending time with, but then didn’t bother to ever try and reach out or talk to again. That’s not good enough. It’s nice when somebody else makes the effort, but if we all had that mindset, nobody would ever make the effort. At some point, you’ve just got to accept that if you want to do things for yourself, you can’t expect even a fair 50/50 split. Be the person who takes initiative.

And if you do the math, it would be only 50% of the time that you’d have to take the initiative, which isn’t true. Yet, people make connections. So if you’re doing it most of the time, and the people you know aren’t, that basically makes you special. You’re a special person. You’re a better person who makes everyone around you better. Congrats.

And that’s the crux of how to meet people at concerts. Very few people are predisposed to doing so, but many more of us crave making those connections. So put in the effort now, knowing it’ll pay off down the road.

And if you came into this hoping to meet someone who might end up being more than just a gig buddy, well, the same guidelines might just work out for you.