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Envision finding yourself with a free evening. You're feeling refreshed, open to experience, and hoping to shake up your usual routine of relaxing at home. The world is your oyster! Would you choose a) attending a concert or b) engaging in intimacy? The response, as is often seen with these sorts of hypotheticals, is obviously: “It depends.” Reasonable people may reasonably wonder: what kind of the concert? Who is the other person? Will it be likely to be satisfying?

Few would pick a heavy metal lineup if the other option was a dream date with a favorite star. However tweak one side of the equation, and it becomes less obvious. For the thousands surveyed presented with this choice through a major concert promoter, no such details was given – and the result emerged clearly and overwhelmingly supporting gigs.

Research Findings Show Surprising Preferences

A global study, questioning a large sample ranging from 18 and 54 from multiple countries, found that live music currently stand as the most popular form of entertainment, ranking above sports, cinema and – yes – sex. When limited to one type of activity for the rest of their lives, nearly four in ten selected gigs, compared to film attendance (17%) and games (14%). The group was over two times as inclined to select seeing their favourite artist in concert (70%) over sex (30%).

You arrive anticipating happily shocked – and quite often you’ll end up with another person's locks in your mouth

Context and Considerations

Naturally it's expected that a promotional study conducted for a concert promoter would result so heavily in favour of concerts – and, in the freewheeling mood of a either-or question, if your preferred musician is, for example Paul McCartney, it's understandable why seeing him may be chosen over a ordinary situation. Yet this two-option scenario between gigs or sex, plainly ridiculous even if it seems, is interesting to reflect on amid the peculiar juncture we face with each.

The Transformation of Gig Attendance

Lately, live music participation has become not just a shared activity but a intense competition. Live organizations duly point out that arena crowds has “increased threefold each year”, and music festivals are fully reserved quicker than before. Merely acquiring passes now demands extensive preparation, rapid-fire response times and bottomless pockets (or a generous credit card limit). Though you’re successful, it isn't sufficient to simply turn up and experience the event. Nowadays exists an assumption, especially for concertgoers, that you can boost your return on investment by attending more than once (potentially going abroad), learning the set list beforehand and memorizing the cues to follow and audience interactions developed through past attendees.

Many concertgoers report feeling scarred by their experience at large concerts: what felt like a scripted production of thousands of people, where certain attendees turned up unfamiliar with the steps. Those lengthy tour, producing huge revenue, was proof of the lengths to which people will go to experience a historic occasion and see their favourite artist sing, although the real performance seems increasingly less important than the show.

The Condition of Current Relationships

Sexual activity, conversely – an accessible and available enjoyment – faces challenging circumstances. Based on recent surveys, nearly one in four of individuals had sex in an average week, while nearly 30% were sexually inactive. In another major country, current statistics indicated that more than 25% of adults said they had not sex at all in the past year, rising from lower numbers in earlier years. Across these regions, the shift has been attributed to reduced intimacy among younger people. Compare this with the industry expanding rapidly for stadium extravaganzas and the intense rivalry for admissions. Certainly it isn't straightforward as a simple decision between either option – “could you choose attend a huge concert multiple times, or stay celibate?” – but it’s perhaps an sign of which is perceived as the more consistent pleasure.

Surprising Parallels

Intimacy and concerts are more similar than one may assume. Each symbolizes the commencement of a connection, a actual experience of impressions or potential that might have amassed only in your head. You come with a basic expectation of the probable outcome, but hopeful of being pleasantly surprised – and whether it proves satisfying or frustrating relies heavily on if your enthusiasm and expectations match theirs. Regularly you could wind up with a stranger's hair in your mouth, and later be waiting around for a break and some quiet time on your own. Similarly for each, stimulants and beverages can sometimes improve or lessen the situation (but definitely make the worst occasions easier to weather).

Finding the Balance

The appeal to live events and relationships hinges on locating that elusive sweet spot between familiarity and novelty, consistency and change, effort and ease. Naturally it's uncommon – but it's the remembrance of successful moments, the understanding that success is achievable, that drives us to attempt once more: to {