🔗 Share this article

Envision finding yourself with a free evening. You're feeling energized, open to experience, and looking to shake up your usual routine of relaxing at home. Your options awaits your choice! Would you opt for a) attending a concert or b) having sex? The response, as typically seen with these types of hypotheticals, is plainly: “That depends.” Thinking adults might logically ask: what's the concert? With whom is the partner? Is it likely to be satisfying?

Hardly anyone would choose a heavy metal lineup if the other option was a dream date with Jonathan Bailey. But adjust any part of the equation, and it becomes more complicated. Regarding the thousands surveyed posed this query from a major concert promoter, no further details was given – and the answer emerged unambiguously and strongly supporting gigs.

Research Findings Reveal Surprising Preferences

A worldwide survey, polling a large sample from 18 and 54 in different nations, revealed that live music are now the world’s top form of entertainment, ranking above athletic events, movies and – absolutely – sexual intercourse. Given the choice to a single form of entertainment permanently, nearly four in ten selected concerts, compared to film attendance (17%) and athletic competitions (14%). Participants were more than twice as inclined to choose attending their preferred performer on stage (70%) over intimacy (30%).

You arrive anticipating pleasantly surprised – and frequently you might find with someone else’s hair in your mouth

Context and Considerations

Of course it’s not surprising that a promotional study carried out for a live event company might conclude so overwhelmingly in favour of gigs – and, with the speculative spirit of a hypothetical choice, if your preferred musician is, say a legendary singer, it's understandable why attending his concert might win out instead of a routine encounter. However this either-or decision between live music or sexual activity, plainly ridiculous though it may be, is interesting to consider amid the peculiar moment we experience with each.

The Transformation of Concert Culture

In recent years, live music participation has become not just a group event but a competitive sport. Event companies rightly note that arena crowds has “increased threefold each year”, and festivals get booked up faster than ever. Just obtaining passes now requires military-level planning, instant reactions and significant funds (or a high spending capacity). Even if you manage, it’s not enough to merely attend and experience the event. Nowadays exists an assumption, particularly with concertgoers, that you can boost your enjoyment value by attending more than once (potentially going abroad), swotting up on the performance lineup ahead of time and understanding the rituals to perform and calls-and-responses developed through earlier audiences.

Several fans report feeling affected by their experience at large concerts: appearing as a orchestrated show of huge audiences, to which particular fans arrived unfamiliar with the steps. Those lengthy tour, producing huge revenue, demonstrated of the lengths to which attendees will push to experience a cultural moment and experience their top musician perform, even if the live sound appears more and more less important than the spectacle.

The State of Current Relationships

Sex, conversely – an accessible and common experience – experiences challenging circumstances. According to modern research, nearly one in four of adults had sex in an average week, while nearly 30% were abstaining. Elsewhere, modern figures indicated that more than 25% of people said they had not intimacy a single time in the past year, rising from fewer people in previous decades. In both territories, the change has been attributed to less sexual activity among younger people. Juxtapose this with the industry booming for stadium extravaganzas and the intense rivalry for admissions. Naturally it's more complicated as a basic option between either option – “would you rather see a major tour repeatedly, or stay celibate?” – but it might be an sign of how people see the more consistent pleasure.

Surprising Parallels

Relationships and gigs are closer aligned than one may assume. They both embody the commencement of a connection, a real-world test of expectations or potential that could have built just in your mind. You arrive with a general notion of how it’s likely to go, but hopeful of being delightfully amazed – and how it ends up satisfying or frustrating rests largely on whether your energy and hopes match theirs. Regularly you could wind up with another person's locks in your mouth, and afterwards be waiting around for a smoke and a moment alone by yourself. Likewise with either, stimulants and beverages can sometimes improve or detract from the experience (but certainly help the most dire experiences more bearable).

Achieving Equilibrium

The magic to both gigs and sex hinges on locating that perfect combination between the known and the new, similarity and difference, challenge and comfort. Of course it happens only rarely – but it's the recollection of when they did, the understanding that it’s possible, that inspires us to give it another shot: to {