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Envision having a night off. You feel refreshed, eager for new things, and hoping to shake up your usual routine of post-work slumping. Life itself is your oyster! Do you opt for a) attending a concert or b) being with a partner? The response, as typically the case with these types of queries, is plainly: “It depends.” Reasonable people may reasonably wonder: what's the concert? With whom is the companion? Could it be likely to be satisfying?

Hardly anyone would choose a intense rock concert if the choice was a magical night with Jonathan Bailey. But adjust either end of the comparison, and it turns less clearcut. In the case of the participants presented with this choice from a gig organization, no further context was provided – and the result was revealed clearly and heavily supporting live music events.

Survey Results Indicate Unexpected Choices

A global survey, questioning 40,000 people ranging from 18 and 54 in 15 markets, found that live music are now the most popular form of entertainment, beating out sports, films and – absolutely – intimacy. When limited to a single form of activity for the rest of their lives, nearly four in ten selected gigs, versus going to the cinema (17%) and sports events (14%). They were also over two times as inclined to choose watching their top musician in concert (70%) rather than sexual activity (30%).

You show up hopeful of being happily shocked – and quite often you could wind up with a stranger's hair in your mouth

Context and Considerations

Of course it's expected that a marketing research conducted for a concert promoter might conclude so overwhelmingly in favour of concerts – and, with the speculative mood of a hypothetical choice, if your top performer is, such as a legendary singer, one can appreciate why attending his concert might win out instead of a routine encounter. However this either-or decision between live music or intimacy, clearly absurd though it may be, is noteworthy to consider considering the strange moment we face with these two aspects.

The Change of Gig Attendance

Over the past few years, gig-going has grown beyond a communal experience but a competitive sport. Live organizations appropriately highlight that arena crowds has “grown significantly year-over-year”, and festivals sell out quicker than before. Merely acquiring admissions now needs detailed strategy, rapid-fire response times and bottomless pockets (or a high spending capacity). Even if you’re successful, it isn't sufficient to simply turn up and experience the event. Nowadays exists an expectation, at least among music enthusiasts, that you could increase your experience quality by going multiple times (potentially going abroad), studying the performance lineup beforehand and knowing your marks to perform and fan traditions created by earlier audiences.

Numerous fans describe being shaken by their experience at popular events: appearing as a orchestrated show of thousands of people, to which certain attendees came unaware of the steps. Those lengthy event, producing huge revenue, was proof of the lengths to which attendees will push to participate in a cultural moment and experience their top musician perform, even if the real performance seems increasingly overshadowed by the spectacle.

The State of Current Relationships

Intimacy, by contrast – a relatively cheap and available enjoyment – is in challenging circumstances. According to modern research, approximately 25% of people were intimate in an typical week, while just under a third were sexually inactive. In another major country, recent data showed that over a quarter of individuals admitted to avoiding intimacy a single time in the past year, up from smaller percentages in previous decades. In both territories, the shift has been linked to decreased encounters in youth demographics. Compare this with the industry booming for large concerts and the fierce battle for tickets. Of course it's more complicated as a basic option between either option – “do you prefer see a major tour multiple times, or stay celibate?” – but it’s perhaps an indication of how people see the more consistent enjoyment.

Interesting Comparisons

Sex and live music are more comparable than one may assume. Both represent the initiation of a relationship, a practical trial of expectations or promise that could have built solely in your imagination. You come with some idea of how it’s likely to go, but expecting to be delightfully amazed – and whether it proves satisfying or frustrating relies heavily on if your enthusiasm and hopes align with others. Regularly you might find with someone else’s hair in your mouth, and later be hanging out for a smoke and some quiet time alone. Likewise with either, substances and drinks can either enhance or detract from the event (but certainly help the worst occasions more bearable).

Seeking Harmony

The magic to both gigs and sex relies on locating that hard-to-find balance between the known and the new, similarity and difference, effort and ease. Certainly it happens only rarely – but it's the remembrance of successful moments, the understanding that it can happen, that drives us to give it another shot: to {