🔗 Share this article

Picture finding yourself with a free evening. You are refreshed, ready for adventure, and wanting to shake up your typical schedule of post-work slumping. Life itself is your oyster! Would you choose a) attending a concert or b) engaging in intimacy? The outcome, as is often seen with these sorts of hypotheticals, is obviously: “It varies.” Thinking adults might logically ask: what kind of the show? Who's the partner? Will it be going to be satisfying?

Few would pick a Limp Bizkit/Slipknot/Korn triple bill if the other option was one enchanted evening with a favorite star. But adjust one side of the comparison, and it becomes less clearcut. In the case of the participants presented with this choice through a gig organization, no such context was provided – and the response was revealed unambiguously and strongly in favour of live music events.

Research Findings Reveal Interesting Trends

An international report, interviewing 40,000 people from 18 and 54 from multiple countries, found that gigs have become the number one pastime, ranking above athletic events, films and – indeed – sex. When limited to only one option of activity forever, nearly four in ten chose gigs, compared to going to the cinema (17%) and athletic competitions (14%). They were also more than twice as inclined to choose seeing their favourite artist on stage (70%) over sexual activity (30%).

You show up expecting to be happily shocked – and regularly you could wind up with a stranger's hair in your mouth

Context and Considerations

Certainly it’s not surprising that a marketing research conducted for a live event company should come out so heavily in favour of concerts – and, with the speculative tone of a hypothetical choice, if your preferred musician is, such as a legendary singer, one can appreciate why attending his concert could prevail instead of a ordinary situation. But this two-option scenario between live music or sex, plainly ridiculous even if it seems, is fascinating to consider considering the strange point we experience with these two aspects.

The Change of Gig Attendance

Lately, live music participation has become not just a shared activity but a competitive sport. Major promoters duly point out that stadium attendance has “grown significantly each year”, and music festivals are fully reserved faster than ever. Merely acquiring tickets now needs extensive preparation, quick decision-making and bottomless pockets (or a substantial budget). Though you manage, it isn't sufficient to simply turn up and enjoy the show. Currently there is an assumption, at least among music enthusiasts, that you could increase your experience quality by going multiple times (even travelling internationally), swotting up on the performance lineup in advance and understanding the rituals to perform and fan traditions established by earlier audiences.

Many fans admit to scarred by their attendance at popular events: what felt like a orchestrated show of thousands of people, to which particular fans arrived unaware of the protocol. That 18-month concert series, producing huge revenue, demonstrated of the lengths to which attendees will push to experience a historic occasion and watch their preferred performer play, even if the real performance appears more and more less important than the spectacle.

The Condition of Modern Intimacy

Intimacy, on the other hand – an affordable and accessible pleasure – experiences dire straits. Per modern research, about a quarter of adults were intimate in an regular period, while nearly 30% were not engaging. In another major country, current statistics indicated that over a quarter of people said they had not sexual activity even once in the past year, rising from smaller percentages in earlier years. In both territories, the trend has been linked to reduced intimacy with younger generations. Contrast this with the sector driving growth for large concerts and the cutthroat competition for admissions. Certainly it's more complicated as a straightforward choice between either option – “would you rather attend a huge concert repeatedly, or stay celibate?” – but it's possibly an sign of which is perceived as the more consistent pleasure.

Interesting Comparisons

Relationships and gigs are more similar than you might think. Both represent the initiation of a relationship, a actual experience of impressions or possibility that might have amassed solely in your imagination. You show up with a general notion of the probable outcome, but anticipating delightfully amazed – and whether it proves good or bad rests largely on if your enthusiasm and anticipations align with others. Regularly you might find with another person's locks in your mouth, and afterwards be lingering for a smoke and a moment alone on your own. Similarly for each, stimulants and beverages can sometimes improve or reduce the event (but definitely make the most dire occasions more bearable).

Seeking Harmony

The wonder to concerts and intimacy depends on locating that hard-to-find balance between comfort and excitement, sameness and variation, effort and ease. Naturally it occurs infrequently – but it's the recollection of when they did, the awareness that success is achievable, that drives us to give it another shot: to {