Just speaking for the small community on this island - there are multiple local halls with some kind of gathering or activity most days and nights during the week, anything from knitting to woodworking, to martial arts. Afternoon community brunches all year and "warm spaces" with hot food during the winter Each area has a leisure centre, swimming pool, lots of inter-island sporting leagues and events. The halls have bars that serve as pubs where it is rare not to find music, either a session of organised.

Then at weekends you can take your pick. Always multiple gigs/festivals for varying styles, small venues mean a great chance to meet and sped time with visiting artists etc. Then there are the social gatherings just for the sake of it. Sprees in houses and sheds, which can descend into rave style discos or just chill into the early hours. There is no midnight/1am cutoff here! Then you have Up Helly Aa - which is a year round thing for a large part of the population, taking up multiple nights a week especially in winter, gathering making and preparing for the festivals in the beginning of the year. It's very hard to explain everything that's involved - you'll just have to come and join in :)

Obviously there is much more and that's just a snippit from my angle. I think community is the key. When in a city the things to do just feel very limited and more of a thing people do individually. Spend a couple of days and it feels like you've done everything.