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Envision having a night off. You are refreshed, open to experience, and looking to shake up your usual routine of relaxing at home. Your options awaits your choice! Would you choose a) seeing live music or b) engaging in intimacy? The response, as frequently true with such kinds of queries, is plainly: “That depends.” Reasonable people could understandably wonder: what kind of the concert? Who is the other person? Will it be expected to be satisfying?

Not many would pick a intense rock concert if the other option was one enchanted evening with a beloved celebrity. Yet change one side of the equation, and it becomes less obvious. Regarding the participants posed this query through a major concert promoter, no further clarification was given – and the response was revealed decisively and strongly in favour of gigs.

Survey Results Reveal Interesting Preferences

An international report, questioning 40,000 people aged between 18 and 54 from different nations, revealed that live music currently stand as the number one pastime, surpassing sports, movies and – indeed – sexual intercourse. Given the choice to one type of entertainment forever, 39% of respondents picked concerts, versus watching movies (17%) and athletic competitions (14%). Participants were over two times as prone to prefer attending their preferred performer in concert (70%) rather than sexual activity (30%).

You arrive expecting to be happily shocked – and quite often you might find with someone else’s hair in your mouth

Factors and Reflections

Certainly it makes sense that a promotional study carried out for a concert promoter might conclude so strongly preferring concerts – and, in the freewheeling mood of a would-you-rather, if your favourite artist is, such as a legendary singer, one can appreciate why watching him might win out instead of a common or garden experience. Yet this two-option scenario between gigs or intimacy, plainly ridiculous as it is, is interesting to reflect on considering the strange point we experience with both.

The Change of Gig Attendance

Over the past few years, live music participation has evolved into more than a group event but a serious endeavor. Major promoters appropriately highlight that large venue turnout has “tripled each year”, and music festivals are fully reserved more rapidly than previously. Just obtaining tickets now requires military-level planning, rapid-fire response times and significant funds (or a high spending capacity). Even if you succeed, that alone won't do to simply turn up and watch the performance. Nowadays exists an expectation, at least among concertgoers, that you might enhance your enjoyment value by attending more than once (including overseas trips), learning the performance lineup in advance and understanding the rituals to perform and fan traditions created by previous crowds.

Many concertgoers report feeling shaken by their attendance at popular events: what seemed like a choreographed performance of huge audiences, to which certain attendees turned up unaware of the protocol. Those lengthy event, generating billions, demonstrated of the degree to which attendees will push to feel part of a cultural moment and experience their top musician play, even if the real performance grows somewhat secondary to the show.

The Condition of Current Relationships

Sex, on the other hand – an accessible and accessible pleasure – faces challenging circumstances. Based on contemporary studies, about a quarter of individuals had sex in an regular period, while just under a third were sexually inactive. In another major country, current statistics indicated that more than 25% of individuals reported not having sex a single time in the last twelve months, increasing from fewer people in the past. Across these regions, the change has been attributed to less sexual activity with younger generations. Contrast this with the industry expanding rapidly for large concerts and the intense rivalry for tickets. Of course it's more complicated as a simple decision between either option – “would you rather see a major tour often, or stay celibate?” – but it's possibly an signal of which is perceived as the more reliable pleasure.

Interesting Comparisons

Intimacy and concerts are more similar than you might think. Both represent the commencement of a connection, a practical trial of impressions or potential that might have amassed only in your head. You arrive with a general notion of what might happen, but anticipating happily shocked – and how it ends up enjoyable or disappointing rests largely on if your enthusiasm and expectations align with others. Quite often you’ll end up with a stranger's hair in your mouth, and later be lingering for a smoke and a moment alone on your own. Likewise with either, stimulants and beverages can sometimes improve or detract from the experience (but certainly help the worst experiences more bearable).

Achieving Equilibrium

The wonder to live events and relationships depends on locating that perfect combination between familiarity and novelty, similarity and difference, challenge and comfort. Certainly it occurs infrequently – but it’s the memory of when it worked, the awareness that it can happen, that inspires us to try again: to {