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Picture finding yourself with a free evening. You're feeling energized, open to experience, and looking to break from your usual routine of relaxing at home. The world offers possibilities! Do you opt for a) seeing live music or b) engaging in intimacy? The outcome, as typically true with such kinds of hypotheticals, is obviously: “It depends.” Mature individuals may reasonably wonder: what's the show? Who's the companion? Will it be expected to be enjoyable?

Few would pick a Limp Bizkit/Slipknot/Korn triple bill if the alternative was a dream date with a favorite star. However tweak either end of the comparison, and it grows less obvious. In the case of the 40,000 people presented with this choice through a live event company, no such context was offered – and the answer was revealed decisively and overwhelmingly in favour of live music events.

Survey Results Indicate Interesting Trends

A global study, interviewing 40,000 people ranging from 18 and 54 across 15 markets, showed that live music currently stand as the most popular leisure activity, surpassing sports, movies and – absolutely – intimacy. Given the choice to only one option of enjoyment for the rest of their lives, a significant portion selected live music, against watching movies (17%) and sports events (14%). The group was over two times as inclined to select seeing their favourite artist in concert (70%) over sex (30%).

You arrive expecting to be happily shocked – and regularly you might find with a stranger's hair in your mouth

Context and Considerations

Naturally it makes sense that a PR survey conducted for a gig organizer would result so strongly in favour of live shows – and, with the speculative spirit of a hypothetical choice, if your preferred musician is, for example an iconic star, one can appreciate why seeing him may be chosen instead of a routine experience. But this binary choice between concerts or sexual activity, obviously silly as it is, is noteworthy to think about considering the strange juncture we experience with each.

The Evolution of Gig Attendance

In recent years, live music participation has evolved into more than a communal experience but a intense competition. Live organizations rightly note that arena crowds has “tripled annually”, and music festivals are fully reserved quicker than before. Simply getting tickets now demands detailed strategy, rapid-fire response times and bottomless pockets (or a generous credit card limit). Although you succeed, that alone won't do to simply turn up and experience the event. There’s now an expectation, particularly with music enthusiasts, that you can boost your enjoyment value by going multiple times (potentially going abroad), learning the song selection in advance and knowing your marks to follow and fan traditions established by previous crowds.

Many fans admit to scarred by their attendance at major tours: appearing as a choreographed performance of huge audiences, in which certain attendees arrived unaware of the routine. Those lengthy event, producing huge revenue, demonstrated of the extents that attendees will push to experience a historic occasion and see their favourite artist sing, even if the actual music seems increasingly secondary to the production.

The State of Contemporary Sexuality

Intimacy, by contrast – a relatively cheap and accessible pleasure – faces dire straits. Per recent surveys, about a quarter of adults engaged sexually in an typical week, while nearly 30% were abstaining. In another major country, recent data revealed that more than 25% of adults reported not having sexual activity even once in the previous year, rising from smaller percentages in previous decades. In both territories, the trend has been linked to decreased encounters with younger generations. Juxtapose this with the industry expanding rapidly for stadium extravaganzas and the cutthroat competition for passes. Of course it's more complicated as a simple decision between one or the other – “do you prefer experience a popular event multiple times, or stay celibate?” – but it’s perhaps an sign of what is viewed as the more reliable pleasure.

Unexpected Similarities

Intimacy and concerts are more comparable than people often believe. Both represent the initiation of a connection, a practical trial of expectations or promise that might have amassed only in your head. You show up with some idea of what might happen, but anticipating happily shocked – and if it turns out good or bad relies heavily on whether your energy and anticipations align with others. Quite often you might find with another person's locks in your mouth, and following be hanging out for a cigarette and personal space by yourself. Likewise with either, stimulants and beverages can potentially heighten or lessen the situation (but definitely make the worst situations simpler to handle).

Achieving Equilibrium

The wonder to concerts and intimacy relies on locating that hard-to-find balance between the known and the new, sameness and variation, work and relaxation. Certainly it happens only rarely – but it's the recollection of successful moments, the knowledge that it’s possible, that motivates us to attempt once more: to {