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Picture being gifted with a open night. You feel refreshed, open to experience, and hoping to shake up your regular habits of relaxing at home. Life itself is your oyster! Do you opt for a) attending a concert or b) engaging in intimacy? The outcome, as typically seen with these sorts of queries, is clearly: “It varies.” Mature individuals could understandably wonder: what is the gig? With whom is the other person? Is it expected to be enjoyable?

Hardly anyone would select a heavy metal lineup if the choice was a dream date with a beloved celebrity. Yet change either end of the scenario, and it grows less obvious. Regarding the thousands surveyed presented with this choice through a live event company, no further context was provided – and the result was revealed decisively and heavily supporting concerts.

Research Findings Reveal Interesting Trends

An international survey, questioning a large sample ranging from 18 and 54 from different nations, revealed that gigs currently stand as the number one leisure activity, ranking above athletic events, films and – yes – sexual intercourse. When limited to a single form of activity forever, a significant portion selected concerts, versus film attendance (17%) and sports events (14%). They were also over two times as likely to select attending their preferred performer in concert (70%) instead of intimacy (30%).

You show up expecting to be delightfully amazed – and regularly you could wind up with another person's locks in your mouth

Perspectives and Analysis

Certainly it’s not surprising that a marketing research conducted for a concert promoter might conclude so strongly in favour of live shows – and, amid the playful spirit of a hypothetical choice, if your favourite artist is, say a legendary singer, you can see why watching him may be chosen instead of a common or garden experience. However this either-or decision between gigs or sex, obviously silly even if it seems, is noteworthy to reflect on considering the strange juncture we’re at with both.

The Change of Live Music Experience

Over the past few years, concert attendance has evolved into more than a communal experience but a intense competition. Live organizations duly point out that large venue turnout has “increased threefold each year”, and music festivals sell out quicker than before. Just obtaining passes now needs detailed strategy, instant reactions and significant funds (or a high spending capacity). Even if you succeed, that alone won't do to simply turn up and enjoy the show. There’s now an anticipation, particularly with pop fans, that you might enhance your enjoyment value by seeing several shows (even travelling internationally), swotting up on the set list in advance and memorizing the cues to hit and audience interactions established by previous crowds.

Numerous fans report feeling scarred by their attendance at major tours: what felt like a choreographed performance of massive crowds, where some individuals arrived unaware of the protocol. The extended event, earning massive sums, was proof of the lengths to which people will go to participate in a significant event and experience their top musician sing, even if the actual music grows somewhat secondary to the show.

The Condition of Current Relationships

Sexual activity, by contrast – an affordable and common experience – is in difficult times. Based on modern research, approximately 25% of individuals had sex in an regular period, while nearly 30% were abstaining. Elsewhere, current statistics revealed that a significant portion of adults said they had not sexual activity a single time in the previous year, up from lower numbers in earlier years. Across these regions, the trend has been attributed to reduced intimacy among younger people. Juxtapose this with the market driving growth for major events and the fierce battle for tickets. Naturally it’s not as simple as a simple decision between either option – “do you prefer see a major tour often, or stay celibate?” – but it's possibly an indication of what is viewed as the more consistent enjoyment.

Unexpected Similarities

Intimacy and concerts are more similar than one may assume. Both represent the initiation of a relationship, a actual experience of impressions or possibility that might have amassed only in your head. You show up with a basic expectation of the probable outcome, but anticipating delightfully amazed – and how it ends up enjoyable or disappointing depends very much on whether your energy and anticipations align with others. Quite often you might find with someone else’s hair in your mouth, and following be hanging out for a smoke and some quiet time alone. And, in both cases, stimulants and beverages can potentially heighten or reduce the situation (but absolutely assist the most unpleasant occasions more bearable).

Finding the Balance

The wonder to live events and relationships relies on discovering that elusive sweet spot between familiarity and novelty, similarity and difference, challenge and comfort. Certainly it occurs infrequently – but it's the remembrance of successful moments, the awareness that success is achievable, that drives us to attempt once more: to {