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Imagine being gifted with a night off. You are rejuvenated, ready for adventure, and looking to break from your typical schedule of post-work slumping. Life itself is your oyster! Do you opt for a) seeing live music or b) engaging in intimacy? The response, as frequently true with these types of hypotheticals, is plainly: “It depends.” Reasonable people might logically ask: what is the show? With whom is the partner? Could it be expected to be enjoyable?

Not many would choose a Limp Bizkit/Slipknot/Korn triple bill if the alternative was a dream date with a beloved celebrity. However tweak one side of the scenario, and it becomes less clearcut. For the participants posed this query by a gig organization, no additional details was provided – and the result came out decisively and heavily preferring concerts.

Study Data Indicate Interesting Preferences

An international report, interviewing thousands of participants from 18 and 54 across different nations, revealed that concerts currently stand as the world’s top pastime, surpassing games, films and – yes – intimacy. Given the choice to only one option of entertainment for the rest of their lives, 39% of respondents picked concerts, versus going to the cinema (17%) and games (14%). They were also over two times as likely to choose attending their preferred performer in concert (70%) instead of sex (30%).

You appear expecting to be delightfully amazed – and quite often you could wind up with someone else’s hair in your mouth

Factors and Reflections

Certainly it makes sense that a PR survey conducted for a concert promoter would result so overwhelmingly preferring concerts – and, in the freewheeling spirit of a would-you-rather, if your favourite artist is, such as an iconic star, you can see why seeing him might win out over a ordinary experience. But this binary choice between gigs or sex, obviously silly though it may be, is interesting to reflect on given the odd moment we face with each.

The Change of Gig Attendance

Lately, live music participation has grown beyond a communal experience but a intense competition. Major promoters duly point out that stadium attendance has “grown significantly annually”, and festivals are fully reserved faster than ever. Just obtaining tickets now requires detailed strategy, rapid-fire response times and bottomless pockets (or a generous credit card limit). Although you succeed, it isn't sufficient to merely attend and watch the performance. Currently there is an expectation, particularly with concertgoers, that you might enhance your experience quality by going multiple times (even travelling internationally), swotting up on the performance lineup in advance and understanding the rituals to hit and audience interactions created by previous crowds.

Several concertgoers admit to shaken by their experience at major tours: what seemed like a scripted production of massive crowds, in which some individuals turned up unaware of the protocol. The extended tour, earning massive sums, demonstrated of the lengths to which people will go to feel part of a historic occasion and watch their preferred performer play, even if the live sound appears more and more secondary to the production.

The State of Modern Intimacy

Intimacy, on the other hand – a relatively cheap and accessible pleasure – faces difficult times. According to modern research, nearly one in four of individuals engaged sexually in an typical week, while just under a third were abstaining. Elsewhere, recent data revealed that a significant portion of individuals said they had not sex a single time in the past year, rising from lower numbers in earlier years. In both territories, the trend has been linked to decreased encounters with younger generations. Contrast this with the industry booming for large concerts and the fierce battle for admissions. Of course it’s not as simple as a straightforward choice between either option – “would you rather attend a huge concert often, or stay celibate?” – but it might be an signal of which is perceived as the more dependable satisfaction.

Interesting Comparisons

Sex and live music are more comparable than one may assume. Each symbolizes the commencement of a relationship, a actual experience of expectations or possibility that could have built solely in your imagination. You show up with some idea of how it’s likely to go, but expecting to be delightfully amazed – and how it ends up good or bad depends very much on whether your energy and hopes correspond with partners. Frequently you might find with a stranger's hair in your mouth, and following be lingering for a cigarette and a moment alone alone. And, in both cases, substances and drinks can sometimes improve or detract from the event (but certainly help the worst experiences simpler to handle).

Seeking Harmony

The wonder to both gigs and sex depends on finding that perfect combination between familiarity and novelty, similarity and difference, effort and ease. Certainly it occurs infrequently – but it's the remembrance of when they did, the understanding that it’s possible, that motivates us to try again: to {