A Night to Cherish: Is Live Music Honestly Preferred Over Sex?

Picture finding yourself with a free evening. You are refreshed, ready for adventure, and looking to break from your regular habits of post-work slumping. Your options is your oyster! Do you prefer a) attending a concert or b) engaging in intimacy? The response, as is often the case with these types of questions, is plainly: “It depends.” Reasonable people could understandably inquire: what is the gig? Who's the partner? Will it be likely to be enjoyable?

Not many would pick a intense rock concert if the other option was a dream date with Jonathan Bailey. Yet change one side of the scenario, and it grows less clearcut. In the case of the thousands surveyed presented with this choice by a live event company, no such details was offered – and the answer was revealed clearly and heavily preferring concerts.

Study Data Indicate Unexpected Choices

A worldwide report, interviewing a large sample from 18 and 54 in multiple countries, found that concerts are now the most popular pastime, beating out athletic events, films and – indeed – sexual intercourse. If restricted to only one option of enjoyment permanently, a significant portion picked live music, versus watching movies (17%) and sports events (14%). Participants were significantly more as prone to choose seeing their favourite artist on stage (70%) instead of sex (30%).

You appear hopeful of being happily shocked – and frequently you’ll end up with a stranger's hair in your mouth

Factors and Reflections

Naturally it's expected that a PR survey conducted for a concert promoter might conclude so strongly in favour of concerts – and, amid the playful tone of a hypothetical choice, if your preferred musician is, such as an iconic star, it's understandable why attending his concert could prevail instead of a routine situation. Yet this two-option scenario between live music or intimacy, clearly absurd even if it seems, is noteworthy to consider amid the peculiar point we’re at with these two aspects.

The Change of Gig Attendance

Lately, gig-going has grown beyond a shared activity but a intense competition. Live organizations appropriately highlight that large venue turnout has “increased threefold each year”, and music festivals sell out faster than ever. Simply getting passes now requires extensive preparation, quick decision-making and significant funds (or a substantial budget). Even if you succeed, it’s not enough to merely attend and enjoy the show. Currently there is an anticipation, especially for music enthusiasts, that you might enhance your enjoyment value by attending more than once (potentially going abroad), swotting up on the performance lineup in advance and memorizing the cues to hit and calls-and-responses established by past attendees.

Many attendees describe being scarred by their experience at major tours: what felt like a scripted production of massive crowds, in which certain attendees turned up not knowing the routine. The extended event, producing huge revenue, demonstrated of the degree to which attendees will push to feel part of a cultural moment and watch their preferred performer play, even if the actual music appears more and more overshadowed by the spectacle.

The Condition of Contemporary Sexuality

Sex, by contrast – an affordable and common experience – faces challenging circumstances. According to contemporary studies, about a quarter of people engaged sexually in an regular period, while about three in ten were sexually inactive. In another major country, recent data revealed that a significant portion of people reported not having sex even once in the previous year, increasing from smaller percentages in previous decades. In both territories, the change has been linked to reduced intimacy in youth demographics. Contrast this with the industry expanding rapidly for major events and the intense rivalry for passes. Certainly it isn't straightforward as a basic option between both alternatives – “do you prefer see a major tour often, or stay celibate?” – but it might be an signal of what is viewed as the more dependable pleasure.

Unexpected Similarities

Sex and live music are more similar than one may assume. They both embody the initiation of a connection, a actual experience of ideas or potential that might have amassed only in your head. You come with a general notion of how it’s likely to go, but hopeful of being pleasantly surprised – and how it ends up enjoyable or disappointing depends very much on whether your energy and expectations match theirs. Regularly you could wind up with a stranger's hair in your mouth, and following be waiting around for a smoke and a moment alone on your own. And, in both cases, stimulants and beverages can sometimes improve or reduce the event (but definitely make the worst experiences simpler to handle).

Seeking Harmony

The wonder to concerts and intimacy relies on locating that elusive sweet spot between the known and the new, similarity and difference, challenge and comfort. Certainly it happens only rarely – but it's the remembrance of successful moments, the understanding that it’s possible, that motivates us to attempt once more: to {