🔗 Share this article

Picture finding yourself with a night off. You feel refreshed, eager for new things, and hoping to change your usual routine of relaxing at home. Life itself awaits your choice! Could you opt for a) seeing live music or b) being with a partner? The outcome, as typically the case with such kinds of hypotheticals, is obviously: “It varies.” Thinking adults may reasonably wonder: what kind of the gig? Who's the companion? Could it be expected to be satisfying?

Few would pick a intense rock concert if the choice was a dream date with Jonathan Bailey. However tweak either end of the equation, and it turns less obvious. In the case of the thousands surveyed asked this question by a live event company, no additional clarification was provided – and the result came out decisively and overwhelmingly preferring concerts.

Survey Results Indicate Unexpected Preferences

A worldwide report, interviewing thousands of participants aged between 18 and 54 in multiple countries, showed that gigs currently stand as the most popular pastime, beating out athletic events, films and – absolutely – intimacy. When limited to one type of enjoyment permanently, a significant portion selected live music, against going to the cinema (17%) and games (14%). The group was over two times as likely to choose watching their top musician on stage (70%) rather than intimacy (30%).

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

Perspectives and Analysis

Naturally it's expected that a marketing research carried out for a concert promoter should come out so overwhelmingly preferring concerts – and, in the freewheeling tone of a would-you-rather, if your favourite artist is, such as an iconic star, you can see why watching him could prevail over a common or garden situation. However this two-option scenario between gigs or intimacy, obviously silly though it may be, is interesting to consider considering the strange juncture we face with both.

The Transformation of Concert Culture

In recent years, concert attendance has evolved into more than a shared activity but a competitive sport. Live organizations rightly note that arena crowds has “grown significantly each year”, and live events sell out more rapidly than previously. Merely acquiring tickets now requires detailed strategy, rapid-fire response times and bottomless pockets (or a generous credit card limit). Even if you’re successful, that alone won't do to merely attend and watch the performance. Currently there is an anticipation, at least among concertgoers, that you could increase your enjoyment value by seeing several shows (potentially going abroad), swotting up on the song selection in advance and knowing your marks to follow and calls-and-responses developed through past attendees.

Many fans describe being affected by their experience at large concerts: what seemed like a scripted production of huge audiences, to which some individuals turned up unaware of the routine. That 18-month tour, generating billions, was proof of the extents that people will go to participate in a historic occasion and experience their top musician sing, even if the actual music appears more and more overshadowed by the spectacle.

The State of Modern Intimacy

Sex, by contrast – an accessible and accessible pleasure – experiences dire straits. Based on recent surveys, nearly one in four of adults engaged sexually in an typical week, while about three in ten were sexually inactive. Elsewhere, modern figures showed that more than 25% of individuals admitted to avoiding intimacy at all in the past year, increasing from fewer people in the past. In both territories, the shift has been attributed to decreased encounters among younger people. Contrast this with the industry driving growth for large concerts and the cutthroat competition for tickets. Of course it's more complicated as a simple decision between one or the other – “could you choose see a major tour multiple times, or stay celibate?” – but it’s perhaps an signal of which is perceived as the more consistent enjoyment.

Unexpected Similarities

Intimacy and concerts are more comparable than one may assume. Both represent the initiation of a relationship, a real-world test of expectations or promise that might have amassed solely in your imagination. You arrive with a general notion of the probable outcome, but expecting to be happily shocked – and if it turns out satisfying or frustrating depends very much on if your enthusiasm and anticipations align with others. Regularly you’ll end up with a stranger's hair in your mouth, and following be lingering for a break and personal space on your own. Likewise with either, stimulants and beverages can potentially heighten or lessen the situation (but certainly help the most dire experiences easier to weather).

Seeking Harmony

The appeal to both gigs and sex depends on locating that hard-to-find balance between the known and the new, sameness and variation, challenge and comfort. Naturally it occurs infrequently – but it's the remembrance of successful moments, the understanding that success is achievable, that drives us to try again: to {