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Picture finding yourself with a night off. You're feeling rejuvenated, open to experience, and looking to break from your typical schedule of relaxing at home. The world is your oyster! Would you opt for a) going to a gig or b) being with a partner? The answer, as is often the case with these sorts of queries, is clearly: “It depends.” Thinking adults may reasonably wonder: what kind of the show? With whom is the other person? Could it be likely to be satisfying?

Not many would choose a heavy metal lineup if the choice was a dream date with a beloved celebrity. However tweak one side of the comparison, and it becomes less clearcut. In the case of the participants asked this question from a gig organization, no further context was provided – and the answer emerged unambiguously and heavily preferring concerts.

Study Data Show Surprising Choices

A global report, polling 40,000 people from 18 and 54 across 15 markets, found that live music have become the number one leisure activity, beating out sports, cinema and – indeed – sex. When limited to only one option of activity permanently, nearly four in ten picked concerts, compared to going to the cinema (17%) and games (14%). Participants were significantly more as inclined to choose attending their preferred performer on stage (70%) rather than sexual activity (30%).

You appear anticipating happily shocked – and quite often you could wind up with another person's locks in your mouth

Factors and Reflections

Of course it makes sense that a PR survey commissioned by a concert promoter should come out so overwhelmingly preferring concerts – and, with the speculative spirit of a either-or question, if your favourite artist is, such as Paul McCartney, it's understandable why seeing him may be chosen over a routine experience. However this either-or decision between concerts or sexual activity, clearly absurd even if it seems, is interesting to reflect on amid the peculiar moment we face with both.

The Change of Live Music Experience

In recent years, concert attendance has evolved into more than a communal experience but a intense competition. Live organizations duly point out that arena crowds has “increased threefold year-over-year”, and music festivals are fully reserved quicker than before. Merely acquiring tickets now requires detailed strategy, rapid-fire response times and significant funds (or a high spending capacity). Although you succeed, that alone won't do to simply turn up and experience the event. There’s now an expectation, at least among concertgoers, that you might enhance your experience quality by going multiple times (potentially going abroad), learning the song selection beforehand and understanding the rituals to perform and fan traditions developed through previous crowds.

Several attendees admit to affected by their experience at popular events: appearing as a orchestrated show of massive crowds, to which particular fans came not knowing the protocol. That 18-month event, earning massive sums, was proof of the lengths to which people will go to experience a cultural moment and watch their preferred performer sing, even if the actual music seems increasingly less important than the show.

The Condition of Current Relationships

Sex, by contrast – a relatively cheap and available enjoyment – experiences difficult times. Per modern research, nearly one in four of people engaged sexually in an regular period, while just under a third were not engaging. Elsewhere, recent data showed that over a quarter of people reported not having sex even once in the last twelve months, increasing from fewer people in the past. Across these regions, the shift has been linked to less sexual activity among younger people. Contrast this with the sector driving growth for large concerts and the fierce battle for tickets. Naturally it isn't straightforward as a straightforward choice between one or the other – “could you choose see a major tour often, or stay celibate?” – but it’s perhaps an signal of which is perceived as the more reliable enjoyment.

Surprising Parallels

Relationships and gigs are closer aligned than you might think. They both embody the initiation of a bond, a practical trial of expectations or promise that may have developed just in your mind. You arrive with some idea of the probable outcome, but anticipating happily shocked – and how it ends up enjoyable or disappointing rests largely on how your vibe and expectations correspond with partners. Frequently you might find with another person's locks in your mouth, and later be lingering for a break and a moment alone alone. And, in both cases, drugs and alcohol can either enhance or reduce the event (but certainly help the most unpleasant occasions easier to weather).

Achieving Equilibrium

The magic to both gigs and sex depends on locating that hard-to-find balance between comfort and excitement, similarity and difference, work and relaxation. Naturally it's uncommon – but it's the remembrance of when it worked, the awareness that success is achievable, that motivates us to attempt once more: to {