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Imagine having a free evening. You're feeling rejuvenated, ready for adventure, and hoping to shake up your usual routine of evening scrolling. Life itself awaits your choice! Could you opt for a) attending a concert or b) being with a partner? The answer, as typically true with such kinds of hypotheticals, is plainly: “It varies.” Thinking adults might logically wonder: what kind of the gig? Who is the partner? Will it be expected to be enjoyable?

Hardly anyone would choose a intense rock concert if the alternative was one enchanted evening with Jonathan Bailey. But adjust any part of the scenario, and it grows less clearcut. For the thousands surveyed posed this query by a major concert promoter, no such details was given – and the result emerged decisively and strongly supporting gigs.

Research Findings Indicate Surprising Trends

An international survey, polling a large sample aged between 18 and 54 across 15 markets, showed that gigs are now the most popular pastime, surpassing athletic events, cinema and – yes – sex. Given the choice to one type of activity permanently, 39% of respondents chose live music, against watching movies (17%) and games (14%). They were also significantly more as likely to prefer attending their preferred performer live (70%) over sex (30%).

You arrive expecting to be delightfully amazed – and quite often you might find with another person's locks in your mouth

Context and Considerations

Naturally it’s not surprising that a PR survey conducted for a live event company might conclude so overwhelmingly preferring gigs – and, in the freewheeling tone of a hypothetical choice, if your favourite artist is, such as an iconic star, it's understandable why watching him may be chosen over a routine encounter. However this binary choice between live music or sex, obviously silly as it is, is noteworthy to think about considering the strange moment we’re at with these two aspects.

The Transformation of Gig Attendance

Lately, concert attendance has evolved into more than a shared activity but a competitive sport. Major promoters appropriately highlight that stadium attendance has “increased threefold annually”, and live events sell out quicker than before. Merely acquiring passes now needs extensive preparation, instant reactions and significant funds (or a generous credit card limit). Even if you succeed, it isn't sufficient to simply turn up and watch the performance. Nowadays exists an assumption, particularly with concertgoers, that you could increase your experience quality by attending more than once (even travelling internationally), learning the performance lineup beforehand and understanding the rituals to perform and audience interactions established by earlier audiences.

Many fans admit to scarred by their experience at large concerts: what felt like a choreographed performance of huge audiences, in which some individuals arrived unaware of the routine. The extended event, earning massive sums, was proof of the lengths to which people will go to experience a cultural moment and see their favourite artist play, though the actual music appears more and more secondary to the spectacle.

The Situation of Modern Intimacy

Sexual activity, conversely – an affordable and common experience – faces difficult times. Per recent surveys, about a quarter of individuals were intimate in an average week, while nearly 30% were abstaining. In a different nation, current statistics showed that more than 25% of people said they had not sexual activity at all in the previous year, up from fewer people in the past. In both territories, the trend has been attributed to less sexual activity among younger people. Juxtapose this with the sector expanding rapidly for stadium extravaganzas and the fierce battle for tickets. Of course it's more complicated as a basic option between both alternatives – “do you prefer attend a huge concert repeatedly, or avoid intimacy?” – but it might be an sign of which is perceived as the more dependable enjoyment.

Unexpected Similarities

Intimacy and concerts are closer aligned than one may assume. Both represent the activation of a relationship, a real-world test of impressions or possibility that could have built solely in your imagination. You come with a basic expectation of what might happen, but anticipating happily shocked – and how it ends up enjoyable or disappointing rests largely on if your enthusiasm and expectations match theirs. Regularly you could wind up with a stranger's hair in your mouth, and afterwards be waiting around for a cigarette and some quiet time alone. Likewise with either, stimulants and beverages can potentially heighten or detract from the event (but certainly help the most unpleasant situations simpler to handle).

Achieving Equilibrium

The magic to both gigs and sex relies on finding that elusive sweet spot between familiarity and novelty, sameness and variation, effort and ease. Naturally it's uncommon – but it's the recollection of when they did, the knowledge that it can happen, that inspires us to attempt once more: to {