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Imagine having a free evening. You feel energized, eager for new things, and looking to change your usual routine of relaxing at home. Your options awaits your choice! Could you opt for a) going to a gig or b) having sex? The answer, as typically seen with these types of queries, is clearly: “That depends.” Thinking adults could understandably inquire: what kind of the show? Who's the companion? Is it expected to be satisfying?

Few would pick a heavy metal lineup if the alternative was a magical night with Jonathan Bailey. However tweak either end of the scenario, and it grows more complicated. Regarding the thousands surveyed presented with this choice through a major concert promoter, no additional context was offered – and the response was revealed unambiguously and overwhelmingly preferring live music events.

Study Data Reveal Interesting Trends

An international report, interviewing 40,000 people aged between 18 and 54 from 15 markets, found that concerts currently stand as the world’s top pastime, beating out sports, films and – indeed – sex. Given the choice to a single form of activity for the rest of their lives, 39% of respondents chose live music, compared to watching movies (17%) and athletic competitions (14%). Participants were significantly more as prone to choose attending their preferred performer in concert (70%) instead of sexual activity (30%).

You show up hopeful of being happily shocked – and regularly you’ll end up with another person's locks in your mouth

Context and Considerations

Of course it's expected that a promotional study commissioned by a concert promoter should come out so overwhelmingly preferring live shows – and, amid the playful tone of a either-or question, if your favourite artist is, say Paul McCartney, it's understandable why attending his concert may be chosen over a ordinary situation. Yet this two-option scenario between live music or sex, obviously silly though it may be, is fascinating to consider considering the strange point we experience with these two aspects.

The Evolution of Live Music Experience

In recent years, live music participation has become not just a shared activity but a intense competition. Major promoters appropriately highlight that stadium attendance has “tripled year-over-year”, and music festivals get booked up quicker than before. Simply getting passes now requires extensive preparation, quick decision-making and deep finances (or a high spending capacity). Even if you succeed, that alone won't do to just show up and watch the performance. There’s now an anticipation, at least among music enthusiasts, that you might enhance your experience quality by seeing several shows (including overseas trips), studying the song selection ahead of time and memorizing the cues to follow and calls-and-responses established by past attendees.

Several concertgoers describe being affected by their participation at major tours: what seemed like a choreographed performance of massive crowds, to which some individuals arrived not knowing the protocol. That 18-month tour, earning massive sums, showed of the lengths to which fans will travel to participate in a significant event and watch their preferred performer perform, although the live sound grows somewhat less important than the show.

The Condition of Modern Intimacy

Sex, on the other hand – a relatively cheap and accessible pleasure – experiences difficult times. Per recent surveys, approximately 25% of adults had sex in an regular period, while nearly 30% were not engaging. In a different nation, recent data showed that over a quarter of individuals admitted to avoiding sex a single time in the last twelve months, rising from smaller percentages in previous decades. Across these regions, the trend has been linked to decreased encounters in youth demographics. Contrast this with the sector booming for major events and the cutthroat competition for admissions. Of course it’s not as simple as a straightforward choice between one or the other – “could you choose see a major tour multiple times, or avoid intimacy?” – but it's possibly an signal of which is perceived as the more dependable satisfaction.

Interesting Comparisons

Relationships and gigs are more similar than people often believe. Both represent the commencement of a connection, a real-world test of expectations or potential that might have amassed solely in your imagination. You come with a basic expectation of how it’s likely to go, but anticipating delightfully amazed – and how it ends up satisfying or frustrating rests largely on whether your energy and hopes correspond with partners. Quite often you might find with a stranger's hair in your mouth, and later be lingering for a cigarette and a moment alone by yourself. And, in both cases, drugs and alcohol can sometimes improve or lessen the situation (but absolutely assist the most unpleasant experiences easier to weather).

Seeking Harmony

The wonder to live events and relationships hinges on locating that elusive sweet spot between comfort and excitement, similarity and difference, effort and ease. Certainly it occurs infrequently – but it’s the memory of when it worked, the awareness that it can happen, that drives us to give it another shot: to {