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Picture being gifted with a free evening. You are rejuvenated, ready for adventure, and wanting to change your usual routine of evening scrolling. Life itself awaits your choice! Do you opt for a) seeing live music or b) being with a partner? The response, as typically seen with these types of hypotheticals, is obviously: “It depends.” Thinking adults might logically inquire: what's the show? Who's the other person? Is it expected to be satisfying?

Few would select a heavy metal lineup if the alternative was a magical night with a beloved celebrity. But adjust either end of the scenario, and it turns more complicated. Regarding the 40,000 people presented with this choice through a gig organization, no such clarification was given – and the answer emerged clearly and overwhelmingly supporting gigs.

Research Findings Reveal Surprising Choices

A worldwide study, polling 40,000 people aged between 18 and 54 from multiple countries, showed that gigs have become the most popular pastime, beating out games, cinema and – absolutely – intimacy. If restricted to a single form of activity permanently, a significant portion selected concerts, versus watching movies (17%) and sports events (14%). The group was over two times as inclined to select watching their top musician in concert (70%) rather than sex (30%).

You appear anticipating happily shocked – and regularly you might find with a stranger's hair in your mouth

Factors and Reflections

Certainly it's expected that a PR survey carried out for a gig organizer might conclude so heavily in favour of live shows – and, in the freewheeling mood of a either-or question, if your top performer is, say Paul McCartney, you can see why seeing him might win out over a ordinary situation. But this two-option scenario between live music or sex, clearly absurd even if it seems, is interesting to reflect on amid the peculiar point we experience with each.

The Transformation of Live Music Experience

Over the past few years, live music participation has evolved into more than a shared activity but a competitive sport. Major promoters duly point out that arena crowds has “increased threefold year-over-year”, and festivals are fully reserved faster than ever. Just obtaining passes now demands detailed strategy, rapid-fire response times and deep finances (or a generous credit card limit). Even if you succeed, it isn't sufficient to just show up and enjoy the show. Currently there is an expectation, at least among music enthusiasts, that you can boost your enjoyment value by seeing several shows (even travelling internationally), swotting up on the performance lineup ahead of time and knowing your marks to perform and calls-and-responses created by past attendees.

Several concertgoers describe being scarred by their participation at large concerts: what felt like a scripted production of huge audiences, where certain attendees arrived unaware of the steps. That 18-month event, producing huge revenue, showed of the extents that fans will travel to experience a historic occasion and watch their preferred performer sing, though the actual music seems increasingly overshadowed by the spectacle.

The Condition of Contemporary Sexuality

Sexual activity, by contrast – a relatively cheap and accessible pleasure – is in difficult times. Based on modern research, about a quarter of adults engaged sexually in an average week, while just under a third were not engaging. Elsewhere, modern figures showed that a significant portion of individuals reported not having sexual activity at all in the last twelve months, increasing from lower numbers in earlier years. Across these regions, the shift has been attributed to less sexual activity with younger generations. Contrast this with the industry expanding rapidly for large concerts and the fierce battle for admissions. Of course it's more complicated as a straightforward choice between both alternatives – “do you prefer attend a huge concert often, or remain abstinent?” – but it's possibly an signal of what is viewed as the more reliable pleasure.

Surprising Parallels

Intimacy and concerts are closer aligned than one may assume. Each symbolizes the initiation of a relationship, a real-world test of impressions or promise that might have amassed solely in your imagination. You arrive with some idea of how it’s likely to go, but hopeful of being happily shocked – and if it turns out good or bad relies heavily on if your enthusiasm and hopes align with others. Regularly you might find with someone else’s hair in your mouth, and later be waiting around for a smoke and a moment alone on your own. Similarly for each, stimulants and beverages can either enhance or reduce the experience (but certainly help the worst experiences simpler to handle).

Achieving Equilibrium

The appeal to concerts and intimacy relies on discovering that hard-to-find balance between familiarity and novelty, similarity and difference, effort and ease. Of course it occurs infrequently – but it's the remembrance of when it worked, the knowledge that it can happen, that inspires us to give it another shot: to {