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Imagine having a free evening. You're feeling refreshed, open to experience, and wanting to shake up your typical schedule of relaxing at home. Your options awaits your choice! Do you prefer a) seeing live music or b) engaging in intimacy? The answer, as frequently seen with such kinds of queries, is plainly: “That depends.” Reasonable people could understandably ask: what is the gig? Who's the companion? Is it going to be enjoyable?

Few would choose a heavy metal lineup if the choice was a dream date with Jonathan Bailey. However tweak either end of the comparison, and it turns less obvious. In the case of the thousands surveyed posed this query through a gig organization, no further context was offered – and the result came out decisively and overwhelmingly preferring concerts.

Survey Results Reveal Unexpected Preferences

A worldwide report, interviewing thousands of participants aged between 18 and 54 in 15 markets, revealed that live music have become the world’s top form of entertainment, surpassing games, cinema and – absolutely – sexual intercourse. When limited to a single form of entertainment permanently, 39% of respondents picked live music, versus film attendance (17%) and sports events (14%). They were also over two times as prone to prefer seeing their favourite artist on stage (70%) rather than sexual activity (30%).

You arrive hopeful of being pleasantly surprised – and regularly you’ll end up with a stranger's hair in your mouth

Perspectives and Analysis

Naturally it makes sense that a marketing research conducted for a concert promoter would result so strongly supporting gigs – and, with the speculative mood of a hypothetical choice, if your favourite artist is, for example a legendary singer, one can appreciate why attending his concert may be chosen rather than a common or garden encounter. However this either-or decision between live music or intimacy, clearly absurd though it may be, is fascinating to consider given the odd juncture we’re at with both.

The Evolution of Live Music Experience

Over the past few years, concert attendance has evolved into more than a shared activity but a intense competition. Event companies appropriately highlight that stadium attendance has “increased threefold each year”, and music festivals get booked up quicker than before. Just obtaining passes now requires military-level planning, instant reactions and significant funds (or a high spending capacity). Even if you succeed, it isn't sufficient to simply turn up and experience the event. Currently there is an assumption, at least among music enthusiasts, that you could increase your return on investment by going multiple times (even travelling internationally), learning the song selection ahead of time and understanding the rituals to perform and audience interactions created by past attendees.

Numerous concertgoers admit to shaken by their attendance at popular events: appearing as a choreographed performance of huge audiences, in which particular fans arrived unaware of the protocol. Those lengthy concert series, earning massive sums, showed of the degree to which fans will travel to feel part of a cultural moment and see their favourite artist sing, even if the real performance appears more and more overshadowed by the production.

The Condition of Contemporary Sexuality

Intimacy, by contrast – an accessible and accessible pleasure – is in difficult times. Per modern research, nearly one in four of people were intimate in an typical week, while about three in ten were abstaining. In a different nation, recent data revealed that over a quarter of adults admitted to avoiding sex at all in the past year, up from smaller percentages in earlier years. In both territories, the trend has been linked to reduced intimacy among younger people. Compare this with the market driving growth for stadium extravaganzas and the fierce battle for passes. Certainly it isn't straightforward as a straightforward choice between either option – “could you choose attend a huge concert repeatedly, or avoid intimacy?” – but it's possibly an indication of what is viewed as the more dependable enjoyment.

Surprising Parallels

Relationships and gigs are more similar than one may assume. Both represent the activation of a relationship, a actual experience of ideas or possibility that might have amassed only in your head. You come with a general notion of the probable outcome, but expecting to be happily shocked – and whether it proves satisfying or frustrating depends very much on whether your energy and hopes correspond with partners. Quite often you might find with another person's locks in your mouth, and following be waiting around for a smoke and some quiet time on your own. Likewise with either, stimulants and beverages can sometimes improve or detract from the experience (but definitely make the most unpleasant experiences easier to weather).

Finding the Balance

The appeal to both gigs and sex hinges on discovering that hard-to-find balance between comfort and excitement, consistency and change, challenge and comfort. Naturally it's uncommon – but it’s the memory of successful moments, the understanding that success is achievable, that motivates us to attempt once more: to {