‘After all, people and beauty hardly ever combine into something sustainable…’

It feels like being in a secret brotherhood, one with coded signs to determine who belongs and who doesn’t. Things that look perfectly normal in the eyes of most people take a whole new, secret dimension through mine. There is no initiation ritual, not even a community, and yet we instantly recognise each other. Up until recently we were practically identical to a Kraftwerk audience: 99.5% male, all a bit awkward and nerdy. But see, women are catching up, proof that feminism is finally getting somewhere. We now have more female members than ever before. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that these days the most relevant and interesting music is being created by women. If I was a man I would be more worried about that, and less about losing my carnivore existence to green deal revolutionaries. But that’s just me.

Of course I immediately spotted her. How could I have missed her, it was like encountering a female version of myself. She was sitting on a bench close to the second stage of this small one-day festival. She wasn’t waiting for someone, she didn’t temporarily stray from her group of friends. She was right where she wanted to be, in the company of everyone she cared for, that is: herself. I instantly knew she wouldn’t talk to anyone today. Who needs small-talk and other social bullshit when you can also just listen to music? As I walked by to install myself in front of the stage, to experience the next act as intensely as possible, I wanted to give her a secret sign, a token of appreciation, but I didn’t know any. Minutes later she followed my example and also installed herself in front of the stage. She never left or changed her routine, but spent the whole day in front of the same stage.

I used to think I was crazy. I used to think there was something seriously wrong with me for going to festivals and concerts on my own. On rare occasions I spotted a man with the same aberration.But hey, our numbers are increasing and the times they are a changing. We are gradually taking over the world, or at least the best spots in front of the stage. And feminism is finally fulfilling its potential, girls can be loners too. We sing and dance like there’s no tomorrow. No one can see us. We are together and alone (again, naturally).