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Imagine being gifted with a free evening. You are energized, open to experience, and wanting to change your usual routine of post-work slumping. The world is your oyster! Could you choose a) attending a concert or b) having sex? The outcome, as typically seen with such kinds of questions, is obviously: “That depends.” Thinking adults might logically inquire: what's the concert? Who is the companion? Will it be expected to be satisfying?

Hardly anyone would select a Limp Bizkit/Slipknot/Korn triple bill if the other option was a magical night with a favorite star. But adjust one side of the comparison, and it turns more complicated. For the participants presented with this choice through a live event company, no such details was provided – and the response came out decisively and overwhelmingly supporting gigs.

Study Data Indicate Surprising Trends

An international report, polling thousands of participants from 18 and 54 from multiple countries, showed that live music currently stand as the number one form of entertainment, beating out sports, cinema and – indeed – intimacy. Given the choice to a single form of enjoyment for the rest of their lives, nearly four in ten selected live music, compared to going to the cinema (17%) and athletic competitions (14%). Participants were more than twice as likely to choose attending their preferred performer in concert (70%) instead of intimacy (30%).

You show up anticipating pleasantly surprised – and frequently you could wind up with someone else’s hair in your mouth

Context and Considerations

Certainly it's expected that a PR survey commissioned by a live event company would result so strongly in favour of gigs – and, in the freewheeling spirit of a either-or question, if your preferred musician is, say a legendary singer, it's understandable why attending his concert may be chosen over a ordinary situation. Yet this either-or decision between gigs or intimacy, clearly absurd as it is, is interesting to think about considering the strange juncture we experience with both.

The Change of Live Music Experience

Over the past few years, live music participation has evolved into more than a communal experience but a intense competition. Major promoters rightly note that arena crowds has “tripled each year”, and music festivals are fully reserved more rapidly than previously. Merely acquiring admissions now demands extensive preparation, rapid-fire response times and significant funds (or a high spending capacity). Even if you succeed, it’s not enough to just show up and enjoy the show. Nowadays exists an assumption, at least among concertgoers, that you might enhance your enjoyment value by going multiple times (even travelling internationally), studying the set list beforehand and knowing your marks to follow and fan traditions established by past attendees.

Several concertgoers describe being shaken by their participation at popular events: what seemed like a scripted production of massive crowds, where particular fans turned up unaware of the protocol. That 18-month concert series, producing huge revenue, demonstrated of the degree to which attendees will push to feel part of a significant event and experience their top musician play, although the actual music appears more and more secondary to the production.

The Condition of Contemporary Sexuality

Sexual activity, conversely – a relatively cheap and available enjoyment – experiences dire straits. Based on contemporary studies, about a quarter of people engaged sexually in an typical week, while about three in ten were abstaining. In another major country, current statistics indicated that over a quarter of people said they had not intimacy at all in the last twelve months, increasing from smaller percentages in previous decades. In these areas, the shift has been attributed to decreased encounters among younger people. Juxtapose this with the market booming for stadium extravaganzas and the fierce battle for tickets. Of course it’s not as simple as a basic option between one or the other – “would you rather attend a huge concert often, or stay celibate?” – but it’s perhaps an sign of how people see the more consistent enjoyment.

Surprising Parallels

Sex and live music are closer aligned than people often believe. They both embody the initiation of a relationship, a actual experience of impressions or possibility that may have developed just in your mind. You show up with a basic expectation of the probable outcome, but anticipating pleasantly surprised – and whether it proves satisfying or frustrating rests largely on if your enthusiasm and hopes align with others. Quite often you might find with a stranger's hair in your mouth, and following be lingering for a break and some quiet time by yourself. Similarly for each, substances and drinks can either enhance or lessen the event (but absolutely assist the worst situations easier to weather).

Finding the Balance

The magic to concerts and intimacy relies on finding that perfect combination between the known and the new, sameness and variation, challenge and comfort. Naturally it happens only rarely – but it's the remembrance of successful moments, the awareness that it can happen, that motivates us to try again: to {