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Picture being gifted with a open night. You are rejuvenated, ready for adventure, and looking to change your typical schedule of relaxing at home. Your options offers possibilities! Do you prefer a) seeing live music or b) engaging in intimacy? The outcome, as typically true with these sorts of questions, is plainly: “It varies.” Thinking adults may reasonably ask: what kind of the concert? Who's the companion? Could it be expected to be enjoyable?

Few would select a Limp Bizkit/Slipknot/Korn triple bill if the other option was one enchanted evening with a beloved celebrity. However tweak one side of the scenario, and it becomes less clearcut. In the case of the 40,000 people posed this query through a live event company, no additional context was provided – and the answer came out decisively and overwhelmingly supporting live music events.

Study Data Show Surprising Preferences

An international study, interviewing thousands of participants aged between 18 and 54 across multiple countries, found that gigs are now the world’s top form of entertainment, ranking above games, cinema and – absolutely – sex. When limited to one type of entertainment permanently, nearly four in ten chose concerts, compared to watching movies (17%) and games (14%). The group was over two times as likely to prefer watching their top musician in concert (70%) instead of sex (30%).

You arrive expecting to be pleasantly surprised – and quite often you could wind up with a stranger's hair in your mouth

Perspectives and Analysis

Of course it's expected that a PR survey commissioned by a live event company might conclude so overwhelmingly in favour of gigs – and, in the freewheeling tone of a would-you-rather, if your preferred musician is, such as a legendary singer, you can see why watching him might win out instead of a common or garden situation. Yet this two-option scenario between gigs or sex, obviously silly even if it seems, is interesting to think about given the odd juncture we face with both.

The Transformation of Gig Attendance

Over the past few years, live music participation has become not just a group event but a intense competition. Major promoters rightly note that arena crowds has “increased threefold annually”, and festivals get booked up more rapidly than previously. Simply getting passes now needs extensive preparation, rapid-fire response times and deep finances (or a generous credit card limit). Even if you’re successful, that alone won't do to just show up and watch the performance. Nowadays exists an anticipation, especially for music enthusiasts, that you can boost your return on investment by going multiple times (potentially going abroad), swotting up on the performance lineup ahead of time and knowing your marks to hit and calls-and-responses created by past attendees.

Numerous concertgoers describe being scarred by their experience at major tours: what felt like a orchestrated show of massive crowds, where certain attendees arrived unaware of the routine. The extended event, generating billions, showed of the extents that fans will travel to experience a historic occasion and experience their top musician perform, even if the real performance grows somewhat overshadowed by the production.

The Situation of Contemporary Sexuality

Sexual activity, on the other hand – an affordable and accessible pleasure – faces difficult times. According to recent surveys, approximately 25% of people had sex in an average week, while nearly 30% were not engaging. Elsewhere, recent data indicated that more than 25% of people said they had not sexual activity at all in the past year, increasing from fewer people in earlier years. In these areas, the trend has been associated with reduced intimacy with younger generations. Contrast this with the sector expanding rapidly for major events and the intense rivalry for admissions. Certainly it’s not as simple as a straightforward choice between either option – “do you prefer attend a huge concert repeatedly, or remain abstinent?” – but it might be an indication of what is viewed as the more consistent enjoyment.

Interesting Comparisons

Sex and live music are closer aligned than one may assume. They both embody the initiation of a relationship, a real-world test of ideas or potential that might have amassed only in your head. You arrive with a general notion of the probable outcome, but anticipating pleasantly surprised – and if it turns out good or bad relies heavily on whether your energy and anticipations match theirs. Regularly you could wind up with another person's locks in your mouth, and afterwards be lingering for a cigarette and some quiet time on your own. And, in both cases, substances and drinks can either enhance or detract from the experience (but absolutely assist the most dire situations easier to weather).

Seeking Harmony

The wonder to live events and relationships hinges on finding that hard-to-find balance between familiarity and novelty, similarity and difference, work and relaxation. Naturally it's uncommon – but it's the recollection of when it worked, the understanding that it can happen, that inspires us to try again: to {