🔗 Share this article

Imagine finding yourself with a night off. You're feeling refreshed, eager for new things, and hoping to change your usual routine of relaxing at home. Your options is your oyster! Would you choose a) seeing live music or b) being with a partner? The answer, as typically the case with such kinds of hypotheticals, is obviously: “It depends.” Thinking adults could understandably ask: what kind of the gig? Who is the partner? Will it be likely to be enjoyable?

Few would choose a intense rock concert if the alternative was a dream date with a favorite star. But adjust one side of the comparison, and it becomes more complicated. Regarding the 40,000 people asked this question by a major concert promoter, no additional context was given – and the result came out unambiguously and heavily in favour of concerts.

Research Findings Show Unexpected Trends

An international survey, questioning 40,000 people aged between 18 and 54 from 15 markets, revealed that live music are now the world’s top leisure activity, surpassing athletic events, films and – indeed – intimacy. When limited to only one option of entertainment for the rest of their lives, 39% of respondents chose concerts, compared to going to the cinema (17%) and sports events (14%). Participants were over two times as likely to select watching their top musician live (70%) instead of intimacy (30%).

You show up expecting to be happily shocked – and frequently you’ll end up with another person's locks in your mouth

Perspectives and Analysis

Naturally it's expected that a promotional study conducted for a concert promoter would result so strongly supporting concerts – and, in the freewheeling mood of a either-or question, if your top performer is, say an iconic star, one can appreciate why attending his concert might win out rather than a ordinary situation. Yet this binary choice between live music or sex, clearly absurd as it is, is noteworthy to consider given the odd moment we experience with each.

The Change of Gig Attendance

Over the past few years, concert attendance has grown beyond a group event but a competitive sport. Live organizations duly point out that large venue turnout has “grown significantly year-over-year”, and live events are fully reserved more rapidly than previously. Simply getting tickets now needs extensive preparation, quick decision-making and deep finances (or a substantial budget). Although you’re successful, it isn't sufficient to just show up and watch the performance. There’s now an assumption, particularly with concertgoers, that you can boost your enjoyment value by attending more than once (potentially going abroad), studying the set list ahead of time and knowing your marks to perform and audience interactions established by past attendees.

Several fans admit to shaken by their participation at popular events: appearing as a scripted production of thousands of people, where certain attendees turned up unaware of the protocol. The extended concert series, earning massive sums, showed of the degree to which attendees will push to feel part of a historic occasion and watch their preferred performer sing, although the actual music grows somewhat overshadowed by the show.

The Condition of Current Relationships

Sexual activity, by contrast – an accessible and common experience – is in dire straits. According to modern research, nearly one in four of adults had sex in an typical week, while about three in ten were sexually inactive. In another major country, modern figures showed that a significant portion of individuals reported not having intimacy at all in the last twelve months, rising from fewer people in the past. Across these regions, the change has been associated with decreased encounters among younger people. Contrast this with the sector booming for large concerts and the intense rivalry for admissions. Naturally it's more complicated as a simple decision between both alternatives – “could you choose see a major tour repeatedly, or avoid intimacy?” – but it's possibly an sign of what is viewed as the more dependable pleasure.

Unexpected Similarities

Sex and live music are more comparable than people often believe. Each symbolizes the initiation of a bond, a real-world test of expectations or promise that might have amassed only in your head. You come with a general notion of how it’s likely to go, but hopeful of being happily shocked – and if it turns out good or bad depends very much on if your enthusiasm and expectations align with others. Frequently you could wind up with someone else’s hair in your mouth, and later be waiting around for a break and a moment alone alone. Similarly for each, drugs and alcohol can potentially heighten or lessen the experience (but certainly help 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, similarity and difference, challenge and comfort. Certainly it's uncommon – but it's the recollection of successful moments, the knowledge that it can happen, that drives us to try again: to {