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Envision finding yourself with a open night. You feel energized, ready for adventure, and wanting to change your typical schedule of relaxing at home. Life itself offers possibilities! Would you opt for a) attending a concert or b) being with a partner? The response, as typically the case with these types of hypotheticals, is obviously: “That depends.” Reasonable people could understandably inquire: what's the concert? With whom is the partner? Is it likely to be satisfying?

Hardly anyone would pick a intense rock concert if the choice was one enchanted evening with a favorite star. But adjust any part of the comparison, and it becomes less clearcut. For the thousands surveyed posed this query from a major concert promoter, no such clarification was given – and the result was revealed clearly and strongly preferring gigs.

Research Findings Indicate Unexpected Trends

A worldwide survey, interviewing 40,000 people aged between 18 and 54 across different nations, found that concerts currently stand as the most popular form of entertainment, surpassing sports, movies and – absolutely – sexual intercourse. If restricted to a single form of activity for the rest of their lives, 39% of respondents selected concerts, compared to watching movies (17%) and games (14%). Participants were over two times as prone to prefer watching their top musician live (70%) over sexual activity (30%).

You show up hopeful of being pleasantly surprised – and regularly you’ll end up with a stranger's hair in your mouth

Context and Considerations

Certainly it's expected that a promotional study conducted for a gig organizer would result so overwhelmingly in favour of gigs – and, amid the playful mood of a either-or question, if your preferred musician is, for example Paul McCartney, you can see why watching him could prevail over a ordinary encounter. Yet this either-or decision between gigs or sexual activity, obviously silly as it is, is noteworthy to reflect on given the odd moment we experience with these two aspects.

The Evolution of Gig Attendance

Lately, gig-going has grown beyond a shared activity but a competitive sport. Event companies duly point out that stadium attendance has “tripled each year”, and live events get booked up more rapidly than previously. Merely acquiring admissions now demands extensive preparation, quick decision-making and significant funds (or a high spending capacity). Though you’re successful, it’s not enough to merely attend and enjoy the show. Nowadays exists an anticipation, especially for concertgoers, that you might enhance your return on investment by seeing several shows (even travelling internationally), learning the song selection in advance and memorizing the cues to perform and calls-and-responses created by past attendees.

Numerous fans describe being affected by their participation at popular events: appearing as a scripted production of thousands of people, where particular fans turned up not knowing the protocol. Those lengthy event, producing huge revenue, demonstrated of the extents that people will go to feel part of a historic occasion and experience their top musician perform, though the live sound appears more and more secondary to the spectacle.

The Condition of Modern Intimacy

Sexual activity, conversely – a relatively cheap and available enjoyment – experiences dire straits. Based on modern research, approximately 25% of individuals had sex in an typical week, while about three in ten were sexually inactive. Elsewhere, recent data revealed that a significant portion of adults admitted to avoiding sex at all in the past year, up from smaller percentages in previous decades. In these areas, the trend has been attributed to decreased encounters with younger generations. Contrast this with the sector driving growth for stadium extravaganzas and the fierce battle for tickets. Naturally it's more complicated as a basic option between either option – “could you choose attend a huge concert often, or avoid intimacy?” – but it's possibly an indication of which is perceived as the more consistent pleasure.

Interesting Comparisons

Relationships and gigs are more similar than one may assume. Both represent the initiation of a relationship, a practical trial of expectations or potential that could have built solely in your imagination. You show up with some idea of what might happen, but expecting to be pleasantly surprised – and how it ends up good or bad depends very much on whether your energy and hopes match theirs. Quite often you could wind up with another person's locks in your mouth, and afterwards be lingering for a smoke and some quiet time alone. Similarly for each, stimulants and beverages can either enhance or detract from the event (but absolutely assist the most dire situations simpler to handle).

Seeking Harmony

The appeal to live events and relationships relies on discovering that elusive sweet spot between the known and the new, similarity and difference, challenge and comfort. Certainly it's uncommon – but it’s the memory of successful moments, the awareness that it’s possible, that inspires us to attempt once more: to {