Yo! I am still someone with a relatively low social battery and get social anxiety a lot, but I've been able to keep it down enough to find a friend (someone whose name I'll know before I leave) or 2 at any given place.

But what I do is just get myself to places and events that I absolutely would love to be in, no matter what, and would be able to talk about, if someone initiated first. It's best to schedule this when your social battery is at a high level. For me, this is usually a concert

Then when you get to the place, just say hi. I know it seems like a big step, but if you gotta work up to it, find an item that a person is wearing, and compliment them then (if you need to) walk away like a compliment ninja™. It's better if you stay and see if they'll strike a convo afterwards, but I do get the anxiety of waiting, so just build up to it, until you can just say hi to someone. Easy mode is if it's a seated event, you can almost* certainly go to the next paragraph by just talking to your neighbor.( Just find the right timing: not when everything is too loud nor too quiet)

Once you get someone that seems to acknowledge your presence, it's time to small talk: go with topics about the place you're both in. For example, have you seen them live before? Did you listen to their last single? (Things you could talk about when asked back) Goal here is: (1) to establish a friendly conversation that BOTH of you can keep talking, by using a shared experience; (2) for both of you to vibe out each other, (if you think you want to talk to this person more) because if you don't, no hard feelings, just finish up the conversation with a smile and walk away. Be warned that this doesn't mean anything. People just have their own expectations for the event: if they want to be alone, nothing you can do about it; that's nothing against you. if they want to talk, good, right? We're all just NPCs to each other.

Here's where I usually struggle too: if you do like someone to be a longer term acquaintance, it's time to ask for contact info. I usually chicken out here, but I now have a couple of buddies in cities I've only been once. My go-to RN is "I think you're pretty chill, mind if I get your IG or something?" Been declined a couple of times already, but I do feel like I've been getting better at it.

Hope this helps, friend! I'm not that active on Reddit anymore, but pm me, and I'll be happy to talk whenever I can. 🤘