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Picture being gifted with a open night. You are refreshed, ready for adventure, and looking to break from your typical schedule of post-work slumping. The world offers possibilities! Do you prefer a) going to a gig or b) engaging in intimacy? The outcome, as frequently the case with such kinds of hypotheticals, is plainly: “It varies.” Mature individuals may reasonably ask: what is the gig? With whom is the partner? Will it be going to be satisfying?

Few would choose a Limp Bizkit/Slipknot/Korn triple bill if the choice was one enchanted evening with a beloved celebrity. However tweak any part of the comparison, and it turns less obvious. In the case of the participants posed this query through a gig organization, no such context was offered – and the answer was revealed decisively and overwhelmingly in favour of live music events.

Study Data Indicate Unexpected Preferences

A worldwide survey, interviewing a large sample ranging from 18 and 54 from 15 markets, revealed that live music have become the number one pastime, ranking above sports, movies and – indeed – sexual intercourse. Given the choice to only one option of entertainment forever, a significant portion picked live music, versus going to the cinema (17%) and games (14%). Participants were more than twice as likely to choose watching their top musician on stage (70%) over sexual activity (30%).

You arrive expecting to be happily shocked – and regularly you could wind up with someone else’s hair in your mouth

Factors and Reflections

Certainly it makes sense that a PR survey commissioned by a live event company should come out so strongly preferring concerts – and, amid the playful spirit of a either-or question, if your top performer is, for example an iconic star, one can appreciate why seeing him could prevail instead of a ordinary encounter. Yet this either-or decision between gigs or sexual activity, plainly ridiculous as it is, is interesting to consider amid the peculiar juncture we experience with each.

The Transformation of Concert Culture

In recent years, live music participation has evolved into more than a shared activity but a competitive sport. Live organizations appropriately highlight that stadium attendance has “grown significantly each year”, and festivals get booked up faster than ever. Merely acquiring admissions now demands detailed strategy, rapid-fire response times and deep finances (or a generous credit card limit). Although you manage, that alone won't do to just show up and watch the performance. Nowadays exists an assumption, especially for music enthusiasts, that you can boost your enjoyment value by seeing several shows (potentially going abroad), studying the song selection ahead of time and knowing your marks to follow and calls-and-responses established by earlier audiences.

Several concertgoers describe being affected by their participation at large concerts: appearing as a choreographed performance of thousands of people, to which certain attendees turned up not knowing the routine. That 18-month tour, generating billions, demonstrated of the lengths to which fans will travel to participate in a cultural moment and watch their preferred performer play, though the actual music grows somewhat overshadowed by the production.

The Condition of Contemporary Sexuality

Intimacy, conversely – an affordable and accessible pleasure – is in dire straits. Based on modern research, approximately 25% of adults engaged sexually in an typical week, while just under a third were not engaging. In another major country, current statistics showed that more than 25% of people reported not having sex a single time in the last twelve months, increasing from smaller percentages in earlier years. In these areas, the shift has been linked to less sexual activity with younger generations. Juxtapose this with the sector driving growth for stadium extravaganzas and the intense rivalry for admissions. Certainly it isn't straightforward as a basic option between either option – “would you rather experience a popular event multiple times, or avoid intimacy?” – but it's possibly an sign of what is viewed as the more consistent satisfaction.

Surprising Parallels

Intimacy and concerts are more similar than you might think. Each symbolizes the commencement of a connection, a actual experience of impressions or possibility that may have developed only in your head. You come with a general notion of what might happen, but anticipating pleasantly surprised – and how it ends up enjoyable or disappointing rests largely on whether your energy and hopes align with others. Regularly you’ll end up with another person's locks in your mouth, and later be hanging out for a break and personal space on your own. And, in both cases, drugs and alcohol can potentially heighten or lessen the experience (but absolutely assist the most unpleasant situations more bearable).

Finding the Balance

The wonder to live events and relationships depends on locating that hard-to-find balance between comfort and excitement, sameness and variation, effort and ease. Of course it happens only rarely – but it's the recollection of when they did, the awareness that it’s possible, that inspires us to try again: to {