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Picture having a night off. You are rejuvenated, open to experience, and looking to break from your usual routine of post-work slumping. Your options awaits your choice! Do you opt for a) going to a gig or b) being with a partner? The response, as frequently seen with these sorts of queries, is plainly: “That depends.” Thinking adults may reasonably ask: what kind of the show? Who's the other person? Could it be likely to be good?

Not many would pick a Limp Bizkit/Slipknot/Korn triple bill if the other option was a dream date with Jonathan Bailey. However tweak any part of the scenario, and it grows more complicated. In the case of the 40,000 people posed this query by a live event company, no further context was offered – and the answer came out clearly and overwhelmingly in favour of concerts.

Survey Results Reveal Unexpected Choices

An international study, polling 40,000 people ranging from 18 and 54 in multiple countries, found that live music have become the most popular pastime, surpassing games, films and – yes – sex. Given the choice to one type of enjoyment forever, 39% of respondents picked gigs, versus film attendance (17%) and games (14%). Participants were more than twice as likely to select watching their top musician live (70%) over sexual activity (30%).

You arrive anticipating delightfully amazed – and regularly you could wind up with a stranger's hair in your mouth

Context and Considerations

Of course it’s not surprising that a marketing research carried out for a concert promoter would result so overwhelmingly preferring concerts – and, with the speculative spirit of a would-you-rather, if your preferred musician is, say Paul McCartney, you can see why attending his concert may be chosen over a routine encounter. However this two-option scenario between gigs or sexual activity, plainly ridiculous though it may be, is noteworthy to consider given the odd point we face with these two aspects.

The Evolution of Gig Attendance

In recent years, concert attendance has grown beyond a communal experience but a competitive sport. Event companies rightly note that stadium attendance has “grown significantly year-over-year”, and live events get booked up more rapidly than previously. Merely acquiring passes now needs military-level planning, instant reactions and deep finances (or a substantial budget). Although you succeed, it isn't sufficient to simply turn up and enjoy the show. Currently there is an expectation, particularly with concertgoers, that you could increase your return on investment by seeing several shows (potentially going abroad), learning the song selection in advance and knowing your marks to follow and audience interactions created by previous crowds.

Several attendees report feeling scarred by their attendance at large concerts: what seemed like a orchestrated show of huge audiences, to which some individuals came unfamiliar with the steps. Those lengthy concert series, generating billions, was proof of the degree to which attendees will push to participate in a significant event and experience their top musician sing, though the actual music grows somewhat overshadowed by the production.

The Situation of Modern Intimacy

Sexual activity, conversely – an affordable and available enjoyment – is in challenging circumstances. Based on modern research, approximately 25% of individuals had sex in an regular period, while nearly 30% were abstaining. Elsewhere, current statistics revealed that more than 25% of adults admitted to avoiding sexual activity even once in the last twelve months, increasing from fewer people in the past. Across these regions, the shift has been linked to decreased encounters in youth demographics. Contrast this with the industry driving growth for large concerts and the cutthroat competition for passes. Certainly it’s not as simple as a basic option between both alternatives – “would you rather experience a popular event repeatedly, or remain abstinent?” – but it's possibly an signal of what is viewed as the more consistent pleasure.

Unexpected Similarities

Sex and live music are more comparable than people often believe. They both embody the initiation of a bond, a actual experience of expectations or promise that might have amassed solely in your imagination. You arrive with some idea of how it’s likely to go, but expecting to be delightfully amazed – and how it ends up good or bad rests largely on whether your energy and hopes match theirs. Quite often you could wind up with a stranger's hair in your mouth, and later be waiting around for a cigarette and a moment alone on your own. Similarly for each, stimulants and beverages can sometimes improve or reduce the experience (but certainly help the most dire experiences simpler to handle).

Achieving Equilibrium

The appeal to both gigs and sex hinges 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 remembrance of when they did, the knowledge that success is achievable, that drives us to try again: to {