An Evening to Remember: Is Attending Gigs Truly Favored More Than Sex?

Envision finding yourself with a free evening. You feel refreshed, ready for adventure, and hoping to change your typical schedule of post-work slumping. Life itself is your oyster! Could you choose a) seeing live music or b) engaging in intimacy? The response, as is often true with these types of hypotheticals, is obviously: “That depends.” Reasonable people may reasonably inquire: what kind of the concert? Who's the partner? Is it expected to be enjoyable?

Hardly anyone would choose a intense rock concert if the other option was one enchanted evening with Jonathan Bailey. Yet change any part of the scenario, and it turns less obvious. Regarding the participants presented with this choice by a major concert promoter, no further context was given – and the result emerged clearly and strongly preferring gigs.

Research Findings Indicate Unexpected Preferences

An international report, interviewing a large sample from 18 and 54 across 15 markets, found that concerts currently stand as the most popular form of entertainment, beating out athletic events, cinema and – indeed – sexual intercourse. Given the choice to one type of enjoyment forever, 39% of respondents chose live music, compared to film attendance (17%) and athletic competitions (14%). The group was more than twice as inclined to choose seeing their favourite artist live (70%) rather than sexual activity (30%).

You arrive expecting to be delightfully amazed – and regularly you could wind up with another person's locks in your mouth

Perspectives and Analysis

Of course it makes sense that a PR survey carried out for a gig organizer should come out so strongly supporting gigs – and, with the speculative tone of a either-or question, if your top performer is, say an iconic star, you can see why watching him might win out over a ordinary experience. Yet this binary choice between live music or sex, obviously silly even if it seems, is fascinating to reflect on considering the strange moment we experience with both.

The Transformation of Gig Attendance

In recent years, concert attendance has grown beyond a communal experience but a competitive sport. Live organizations appropriately highlight that large venue turnout has “increased threefold each year”, and festivals are fully reserved quicker than before. Simply getting tickets now needs military-level planning, rapid-fire response times and significant funds (or a generous credit card limit). Though you manage, it’s not enough to merely attend and enjoy the show. Currently there is an anticipation, at least among pop fans, that you might enhance your experience quality by attending more than once (even travelling internationally), studying the performance lineup beforehand and knowing your marks to hit and audience interactions developed through previous crowds.

Numerous fans describe being affected by their experience at large concerts: what felt like a choreographed performance of thousands of people, to which certain attendees turned up unaware of the steps. The extended concert series, generating billions, demonstrated of the lengths to which people will go to participate in a significant event and watch their preferred performer play, even if the live sound grows somewhat secondary to the spectacle.

The State of Modern Intimacy

Sexual activity, conversely – an affordable and accessible pleasure – experiences difficult times. According to contemporary studies, approximately 25% of people had sex in an regular period, while nearly 30% were abstaining. Elsewhere, modern figures showed that over a quarter of people said they had not sex even once in the last twelve months, up from lower numbers in earlier years. In these areas, the trend has been linked to decreased encounters among younger people. Juxtapose this with the sector expanding rapidly for stadium extravaganzas and the fierce battle for passes. Certainly it's more complicated as a basic option between one or the other – “could you choose attend a huge concert repeatedly, or stay celibate?” – but it might be an indication of which is perceived as the more consistent enjoyment.

Interesting Comparisons

Sex and live music are more similar than people often believe. They both embody the initiation of a relationship, a real-world test of expectations or possibility that may have developed only in your head. You show up with a basic expectation of how it’s likely to go, but expecting to be delightfully amazed – and whether it proves satisfying or frustrating depends very much on whether your energy and anticipations correspond with partners. Frequently you’ll end up with a stranger's hair in your mouth, and following be lingering for a break and personal space by yourself. Similarly for each, substances and drinks can potentially heighten or reduce the event (but certainly help the worst situations simpler to handle).

Seeking Harmony

The appeal to concerts and intimacy relies on locating that perfect combination between familiarity and novelty, sameness and variation, effort and ease. Certainly it happens only rarely – but it's the remembrance of successful moments, the knowledge that success is achievable, that motivates us to attempt once more: to {