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Envision being gifted with a open night. You feel refreshed, open to experience, and looking to break from your typical schedule of relaxing at home. Your options awaits your choice! Would you opt for a) seeing live music or b) being with a partner? The response, as typically true with such kinds of hypotheticals, is clearly: “It varies.” Thinking adults could understandably inquire: what's the show? With whom is the companion? Will it be going to be good?

Hardly anyone would choose a intense rock concert if the alternative was a dream date with Jonathan Bailey. Yet change any part of the comparison, and it grows more complicated. In the case of the 40,000 people posed this query through a major concert promoter, no additional context was given – and the result emerged decisively and strongly supporting live music events.

Study Data Indicate Interesting Preferences

A worldwide study, polling thousands of participants ranging from 18 and 54 in different nations, found that live music are now the world’s top pastime, ranking above athletic events, movies and – yes – sexual intercourse. When limited to one type of enjoyment permanently, a significant portion selected live music, versus film attendance (17%) and games (14%). Participants were significantly more as prone to prefer seeing their favourite artist in concert (70%) instead of intimacy (30%).

You show up expecting to be pleasantly surprised – and quite often you’ll end up with someone else’s hair in your mouth

Factors and Reflections

Naturally it makes sense that a PR survey conducted for a live event company would result so strongly supporting live shows – and, in the freewheeling mood of a hypothetical choice, if your preferred musician is, say a legendary singer, one can appreciate why attending his concert may be chosen instead of a ordinary experience. But this binary choice between concerts or intimacy, clearly absurd though it may be, is fascinating to reflect on amid the peculiar juncture we’re at with both.

The Evolution of Concert Culture

Over the past few years, gig-going has grown beyond a communal experience but a intense competition. Major promoters appropriately highlight that arena crowds has “tripled year-over-year”, and music festivals are fully reserved quicker than before. Just obtaining admissions now demands military-level planning, quick decision-making and significant funds (or a generous credit card limit). Even if you manage, that alone won't do to simply turn up and enjoy the show. Nowadays exists an anticipation, at least among concertgoers, that you might enhance your experience quality by seeing several shows (potentially going abroad), swotting up on the performance lineup beforehand and understanding the rituals to follow and audience interactions developed through past attendees.

Several concertgoers describe being shaken by their experience at major tours: what felt like a choreographed performance of huge audiences, to which some individuals arrived unaware of the protocol. That 18-month concert series, producing huge revenue, was proof of the degree to which attendees will push to participate in a cultural moment and watch their preferred performer sing, though the actual music seems increasingly secondary to the production.

The Condition of Contemporary Sexuality

Sexual activity, conversely – an accessible and common experience – faces challenging circumstances. Based on contemporary studies, nearly one in four of adults engaged sexually in an regular period, while about three in ten were sexually inactive. In a different nation, recent data showed that over a quarter of people reported not having intimacy at all in the last twelve months, up from lower numbers in earlier years. In these areas, the trend has been attributed to decreased encounters with younger generations. Juxtapose this with the industry expanding rapidly for stadium extravaganzas and the cutthroat competition for tickets. Certainly it's more complicated as a straightforward choice between one or the other – “do you prefer attend a huge concert repeatedly, or stay celibate?” – but it’s perhaps an signal of which is perceived as the more consistent pleasure.

Interesting Comparisons

Sex and live music are more similar than you might think. They both embody the initiation of a bond, a actual experience of ideas or promise that might have amassed solely in your imagination. You come with a general notion of what might happen, but anticipating delightfully amazed – and whether it proves good or bad relies heavily on how your vibe and anticipations correspond with partners. Regularly you might find with someone else’s hair in your mouth, and later be lingering for a cigarette and personal space by yourself. Similarly for each, drugs and alcohol can either enhance or lessen the situation (but certainly help the worst experiences more bearable).

Achieving Equilibrium

The wonder to both gigs and sex depends on discovering that perfect combination between familiarity and novelty, sameness and variation, challenge and comfort. Naturally it occurs infrequently – but it's the recollection of when they did, the understanding that it’s possible, that motivates us to try again: to {