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Imagine being gifted with a open night. You're feeling energized, ready for adventure, and wanting to shake up your usual routine of evening scrolling. The world offers possibilities! Do you prefer a) seeing live music or b) being with a partner? The response, as frequently seen with these sorts of hypotheticals, is obviously: “It depends.” Mature individuals could understandably wonder: what is the gig? Who's the partner? Will it be expected to be satisfying?

Not many would choose a Limp Bizkit/Slipknot/Korn triple bill if the alternative was a magical night with a beloved celebrity. However tweak either end of the comparison, and it grows less obvious. Regarding the participants asked this question through a live event company, no such clarification was provided – and the response was revealed decisively and strongly supporting concerts.

Research Findings Indicate Interesting Choices

An international report, polling 40,000 people from 18 and 54 across different nations, revealed that concerts currently stand as the number one leisure activity, beating out games, cinema and – absolutely – intimacy. If restricted to only one option of activity for the rest of their lives, nearly four in ten picked concerts, versus going to the cinema (17%) and athletic competitions (14%). Participants were over two times as likely to prefer seeing their favourite artist in concert (70%) rather than intimacy (30%).

You show up expecting to be delightfully amazed – and quite often you’ll end up with someone else’s hair in your mouth

Perspectives and Analysis

Certainly it’s not surprising that a PR survey conducted for a live event company might conclude so heavily in favour of gigs – and, amid the playful spirit of a hypothetical choice, if your favourite artist is, such as an iconic star, you can see why attending his concert might win out rather than a common or garden encounter. Yet this two-option scenario between live music or sexual activity, clearly absurd as it is, is noteworthy to consider given the odd moment we’re at with these two aspects.

The Transformation of Live Music Experience

Over the past few years, gig-going has grown beyond a shared activity but a competitive sport. Major promoters appropriately highlight that stadium attendance has “grown significantly annually”, and festivals sell out faster than ever. Just obtaining passes now needs military-level planning, rapid-fire response times and significant funds (or a substantial budget). Even if you’re successful, that alone won't do to merely attend and enjoy the show. Nowadays exists an expectation, particularly with music enthusiasts, that you can boost your experience quality by going multiple times (including overseas trips), studying the set list beforehand and knowing your marks to hit and audience interactions created by previous crowds.

Several concertgoers admit to shaken by their participation at major tours: what seemed like a orchestrated show of thousands of people, in which certain attendees arrived not knowing the routine. The extended concert series, generating billions, demonstrated of the lengths to which people will go to participate in a historic occasion and experience their top musician perform, though the real performance grows somewhat overshadowed by the production.

The Situation of Modern Intimacy

Sex, by contrast – an accessible and accessible pleasure – experiences difficult times. According to recent surveys, approximately 25% of people had sex in an typical week, while about three in ten were not engaging. Elsewhere, modern figures indicated that over a quarter of people said they had not sex even once in the previous year, rising from fewer people in the past. In both territories, the shift has been associated with reduced intimacy in youth demographics. Juxtapose this with the industry expanding rapidly for major events and the cutthroat competition for tickets. Naturally it’s not as simple as a straightforward choice between one or the other – “could you choose see a major tour multiple times, or avoid intimacy?” – but it's possibly an signal of how people see the more dependable pleasure.

Unexpected Similarities

Sex and live music are more similar than people often believe. Both represent the activation of a connection, a real-world test of expectations or promise that may have developed just in your mind. You show up with some idea of what might happen, but expecting to be pleasantly surprised – and whether it proves enjoyable or disappointing relies heavily on whether your energy and anticipations correspond with partners. Frequently you could wind up with a stranger's hair in your mouth, and following be waiting around for a cigarette and personal space by yourself. Likewise with either, drugs and alcohol can potentially heighten or reduce the event (but definitely make the most dire experiences simpler to handle).

Finding the Balance

The appeal to concerts and intimacy relies on finding that hard-to-find balance between familiarity and novelty, similarity and difference, work and relaxation. Naturally it occurs infrequently – but it's the remembrance of when it worked, the awareness that it’s possible, that drives us to try again: to {