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Imagine being gifted with a open night. You feel refreshed, open to experience, and wanting to shake up your regular habits of post-work slumping. The world offers possibilities! Could you opt for a) going to a gig or b) being with a partner? The answer, as typically the case with such kinds of questions, is obviously: “It varies.” Reasonable people may reasonably inquire: what's the concert? Who is the other person? Is it expected to be enjoyable?

Few would pick a intense rock concert if the alternative was one enchanted evening with a favorite star. However tweak either end of the comparison, and it becomes less obvious. For the 40,000 people posed this query from a gig organization, no such context was offered – and the response was revealed decisively and overwhelmingly in favour of gigs.

Study Data Show Unexpected Choices

A worldwide report, questioning 40,000 people ranging from 18 and 54 across 15 markets, found that gigs currently stand as the number one pastime, surpassing games, films and – absolutely – sexual intercourse. When limited to only one option of entertainment permanently, a significant portion picked gigs, versus watching movies (17%) and games (14%). They were also more than twice as inclined to choose seeing their favourite artist on stage (70%) rather than sexual activity (30%).

You appear expecting to be happily shocked – and quite often you’ll end up with someone else’s hair in your mouth

Context and Considerations

Certainly it makes sense that a marketing research carried out for a live event company might conclude so strongly in favour of concerts – and, in the freewheeling spirit of a either-or question, if your preferred musician is, for example an iconic star, it's understandable why watching him may be chosen over a common or garden experience. However this two-option scenario between live music or sexual activity, plainly ridiculous even if it seems, is fascinating to reflect on amid the peculiar moment we face with these two aspects.

The Transformation of Gig Attendance

Lately, concert attendance has grown beyond a group event but a serious endeavor. Live organizations rightly note that arena crowds has “increased threefold annually”, and music festivals get booked up quicker than before. Just obtaining tickets now requires detailed strategy, quick decision-making and deep finances (or a high spending capacity). Though you manage, that alone won't do to just show up and experience the event. Nowadays exists an assumption, particularly with pop fans, that you can boost your enjoyment value by attending more than once (even travelling internationally), studying the set list in advance and memorizing the cues to hit and calls-and-responses created by earlier audiences.

Several concertgoers admit to affected by their attendance at large concerts: what felt like a choreographed performance of huge audiences, to which some individuals arrived unfamiliar with the steps. The extended concert series, earning massive sums, was proof of the lengths to which people will go to participate in a cultural moment and experience their top musician play, though the live sound seems increasingly overshadowed by the production.

The Condition of Modern Intimacy

Intimacy, on the other hand – an accessible and available enjoyment – faces challenging circumstances. Based on recent surveys, approximately 25% of individuals engaged sexually in an typical week, while nearly 30% were sexually inactive. Elsewhere, recent data showed that more than 25% of adults said they had not intimacy at all in the last twelve months, increasing from smaller percentages in the past. In both territories, the trend has been associated with less sexual activity with younger generations. Compare this with the sector expanding rapidly for major events and the intense rivalry for passes. Naturally it’s not as simple as a simple decision between one or the other – “would you rather experience a popular event often, or remain abstinent?” – but it's possibly an indication of how people see the more reliable satisfaction.

Unexpected Similarities

Intimacy and concerts are more comparable than you might think. Each symbolizes the initiation of a connection, a actual experience of ideas or promise that could have built just in your mind. You show up with a general notion of how it’s likely to go, but anticipating happily shocked – and how it ends up enjoyable or disappointing rests largely on if your enthusiasm and hopes match theirs. Quite often you might find with someone else’s hair in your mouth, and following be lingering for a break and personal space alone. And, in both cases, stimulants and beverages can sometimes improve or reduce the experience (but definitely make the most unpleasant occasions more bearable).

Seeking Harmony

The magic to live events and relationships hinges on finding that perfect combination between familiarity and novelty, similarity and difference, challenge and comfort. Of course it's uncommon – but it’s the memory of successful moments, the awareness that it can happen, that inspires us to try again: to {