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Envision being gifted with a night off. You are refreshed, ready for adventure, and wanting to break from your regular habits of post-work slumping. Life itself is your oyster! Do you choose a) attending a concert or b) being with a partner? The answer, as is often true with these types of queries, is clearly: “That depends.” Reasonable people may reasonably wonder: what's the concert? Who's the other person? Could it be likely to be enjoyable?

Not many would pick a Limp Bizkit/Slipknot/Korn triple bill if the other option was a dream date with a favorite star. However tweak any part of the scenario, and it turns less clearcut. In the case of the 40,000 people posed this query through a major concert promoter, no such context was offered – and the result was revealed decisively and strongly supporting live music events.

Research Findings Show Surprising Choices

A global study, polling 40,000 people ranging from 18 and 54 from 15 markets, found that gigs have become the number one form of entertainment, beating out athletic events, cinema and – absolutely – intimacy. If restricted to only one option of enjoyment forever, 39% of respondents picked concerts, compared to film attendance (17%) and sports events (14%). The group was more than twice as likely to prefer attending their preferred performer on stage (70%) rather than intimacy (30%).

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

Factors and Reflections

Of course it makes sense that a promotional study commissioned by a gig organizer might conclude so overwhelmingly in favour of live shows – and, amid the playful mood of a either-or question, if your preferred musician is, such as Paul McCartney, you can see why seeing him might win out over a ordinary encounter. Yet this either-or decision between live music or intimacy, obviously silly though it may be, is fascinating to consider given the odd juncture we’re at with these two aspects.

The Evolution of Live Music Experience

Over the past few years, concert attendance has grown beyond a group event but a intense competition. Major promoters duly point out that large venue turnout has “increased threefold each year”, and festivals are fully reserved faster than ever. Merely acquiring admissions now needs extensive preparation, quick decision-making and significant funds (or a high spending capacity). Though you manage, it isn't sufficient to just show up and enjoy the show. Nowadays exists an assumption, at least among pop fans, that you could increase your experience quality by going multiple times (even travelling internationally), studying the song selection beforehand and memorizing the cues to hit and audience interactions established by earlier audiences.

Several attendees admit to shaken by their participation at major tours: what felt like a orchestrated show of thousands of people, to which particular fans turned up not knowing the protocol. Those lengthy concert series, earning massive sums, showed of the lengths to which fans will travel to experience a historic occasion and experience their top musician play, even if the live sound seems increasingly less important than the spectacle.

The Condition of Current Relationships

Sex, by contrast – an affordable and common experience – experiences difficult times. Per contemporary studies, about a quarter of people had sex in an average week, while just under a third were not engaging. In another major country, current statistics indicated that over a quarter of adults admitted to avoiding intimacy a single time in the previous year, rising from fewer people in previous decades. In both territories, the change has been associated with less sexual activity among younger people. Contrast this with the sector booming for stadium extravaganzas and the intense rivalry for passes. Naturally it isn't straightforward as a simple decision between one or the other – “do you prefer see a major tour multiple times, or avoid intimacy?” – but it might be an indication of which is perceived as the more consistent satisfaction.

Unexpected Similarities

Sex and live music are more comparable than you might think. Both represent the activation of a connection, a actual experience of impressions or potential that could have built just in your mind. You come with some idea of the probable outcome, but anticipating delightfully amazed – and how it ends up good or bad rests largely on how your vibe and expectations correspond with partners. Frequently you might find with another person's locks in your mouth, and following be hanging out for a cigarette and a moment alone by yourself. Likewise with either, substances and drinks can either enhance or reduce the situation (but certainly help the most dire experiences simpler to handle).

Finding the Balance

The magic to both gigs and sex relies on locating that hard-to-find balance between comfort and excitement, similarity and difference, effort and ease. Of course it happens only rarely – but it's the recollection of successful moments, the awareness that it’s possible, that motivates us to give it another shot: to {