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Envision finding yourself with a open night. You're feeling refreshed, open to experience, and wanting to break from your typical schedule of post-work slumping. Your options awaits your choice! Would you opt for a) seeing live music or b) being with a partner? The response, as typically seen with such kinds of hypotheticals, is obviously: “That depends.” Thinking adults could understandably wonder: what's the concert? Who's the other person? Is it going to be enjoyable?

Few would choose a intense rock concert if the other option was one enchanted evening with Jonathan Bailey. Yet change any part of the comparison, and it grows more complicated. For the thousands surveyed posed this query through a gig organization, no such clarification was provided – and the answer was revealed clearly and overwhelmingly preferring concerts.

Study Data Reveal Unexpected Choices

A global study, interviewing 40,000 people ranging from 18 and 54 across different nations, showed that gigs are now the number one leisure activity, surpassing games, cinema and – absolutely – sexual intercourse. If restricted to one type of activity for the rest of their lives, a significant portion selected live music, against film attendance (17%) and sports events (14%). Participants were over two times as prone to prefer attending their preferred performer on stage (70%) over intimacy (30%).

You appear expecting to be happily shocked – and frequently you might find with someone else’s hair in your mouth

Factors and Reflections

Of course it’s not surprising that a marketing research conducted for a concert promoter should come out so strongly in favour of gigs – and, amid the playful mood of a hypothetical choice, if your favourite artist is, say Paul McCartney, one can appreciate why watching him may be chosen over a routine experience. Yet this two-option scenario between live music or sex, obviously silly even if it seems, is fascinating to think about amid the peculiar juncture we’re at with both.

The Transformation of Concert Culture

In recent years, live music participation has become not just a shared activity but a competitive sport. Live organizations rightly note that arena crowds has “grown significantly each year”, and live events get booked up faster than ever. Merely acquiring admissions now requires military-level planning, instant reactions and deep finances (or a substantial budget). Even if you’re successful, it isn't sufficient to merely attend and experience the event. Nowadays exists an anticipation, especially for concertgoers, that you can boost your experience quality by going multiple times (including overseas trips), learning the performance lineup beforehand and understanding the rituals to hit and audience interactions developed through previous crowds.

Several attendees admit to affected by their attendance at popular events: what seemed like a orchestrated show of thousands of people, in which some individuals came unaware of the steps. The extended concert series, producing huge revenue, demonstrated of the extents that people will go to experience a significant event and see their favourite artist play, though the real performance seems increasingly overshadowed by the production.

The State of Modern Intimacy

Sexual activity, by contrast – an affordable and common experience – is in difficult times. Per recent surveys, nearly one in four of individuals engaged sexually in an regular period, while just under a third were not engaging. Elsewhere, recent data showed that more than 25% of people admitted to avoiding sexual activity even once in the last twelve months, increasing from smaller percentages in previous decades. In both territories, the trend has been attributed to less sexual activity among younger people. Compare this with the sector expanding rapidly for major events and the fierce battle for admissions. Certainly it’s not as simple as a simple decision between one or the other – “could you choose attend a huge concert repeatedly, or remain abstinent?” – but it's possibly an sign of how people see the more dependable satisfaction.

Interesting Comparisons

Intimacy and concerts are more comparable than people often believe. Both represent the initiation of a bond, a actual experience of impressions or possibility that may have developed solely in your imagination. You show up with a general notion of how it’s likely to go, but expecting to be pleasantly surprised – and whether it proves satisfying or frustrating rests largely on if your enthusiasm and hopes match theirs. Quite often you’ll end up with someone else’s hair in your mouth, and afterwards be waiting around for a break and personal space by yourself. And, in both cases, drugs and alcohol can sometimes improve or detract from the event (but definitely make the worst experiences more bearable).

Seeking Harmony

The wonder to concerts and intimacy relies on discovering that elusive sweet spot between familiarity and novelty, sameness and variation, effort and ease. Naturally it occurs infrequently – but it’s the memory of successful moments, the understanding that success is achievable, that drives us to attempt once more: to {