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Envision finding yourself with a open night. You are rejuvenated, eager for new things, and looking to change your usual routine of relaxing at home. Life itself is your oyster! Do you prefer a) seeing live music or b) being with a partner? The response, as is often true with these types of hypotheticals, is plainly: “It depends.” Reasonable people might logically inquire: what kind of the concert? Who is the companion? Could it be expected to be enjoyable?

Few would choose a Limp Bizkit/Slipknot/Korn triple bill if the alternative was a dream date with a beloved celebrity. However tweak either end of the scenario, and it turns more complicated. In the case of the thousands surveyed asked this question from a gig organization, no additional clarification was provided – and the answer emerged clearly and heavily in favour of concerts.

Survey Results Show Unexpected Preferences

An international study, interviewing a large sample aged between 18 and 54 from multiple countries, showed that live music currently stand as the most popular form of entertainment, ranking above games, movies and – yes – sexual intercourse. If restricted to only one option of entertainment forever, 39% of respondents picked live music, compared to going to the cinema (17%) and games (14%). The group was significantly more as inclined to prefer watching their top musician in concert (70%) over sex (30%).

You appear anticipating happily shocked – and regularly you’ll end up with another person's locks in your mouth

Context and Considerations

Certainly it makes sense that a PR survey commissioned by a gig organizer would result so heavily supporting gigs – and, with the speculative mood of a hypothetical choice, if your top performer is, say Paul McCartney, you can see why seeing him could prevail rather than a routine situation. But this two-option scenario between concerts or sex, clearly absurd even if it seems, is fascinating to consider given the odd juncture we’re at with these two aspects.

The Evolution of Concert Culture

In recent years, concert attendance has grown beyond a group event but a intense competition. Live organizations duly point out that arena crowds has “tripled annually”, and music festivals get booked up more rapidly than previously. Just obtaining admissions now requires extensive preparation, quick decision-making and bottomless pockets (or a high spending capacity). Although you manage, it’s not enough to merely attend and experience the event. There’s now an assumption, at least among concertgoers, that you might enhance your return on investment by going multiple times (potentially going abroad), swotting up on the performance lineup ahead of time and memorizing the cues to follow and fan traditions established by earlier audiences.

Several attendees describe being scarred by their experience at large concerts: what felt like a scripted production of huge audiences, where particular fans turned up not knowing the steps. Those lengthy concert series, producing huge revenue, was proof of the extents that fans will travel to experience a historic occasion and watch their preferred performer play, although the live sound seems increasingly less important than the spectacle.

The Situation of Modern Intimacy

Sex, conversely – a relatively cheap and common experience – faces dire straits. Based on modern research, approximately 25% of individuals engaged sexually in an average week, while just under a third were abstaining. In a different nation, recent data indicated that over a quarter of adults reported not having intimacy a single time in the last twelve months, increasing from lower numbers in the past. In these areas, the change has been associated with reduced intimacy with younger generations. Juxtapose this with the market driving growth for large concerts and the fierce battle for admissions. Of course it's more complicated as a simple decision between either option – “would you rather see a major tour often, or remain abstinent?” – but it might be an sign of what is viewed as the more reliable enjoyment.

Interesting Comparisons

Sex and live music are more similar than you might think. They both embody the initiation of a relationship, a actual experience of impressions or possibility that may have developed only in your head. You come with a general notion of what might happen, but hopeful of being pleasantly surprised – and if it turns out satisfying or frustrating rests largely on whether your energy and anticipations match theirs. Quite often you could wind up with someone else’s hair in your mouth, and following be lingering for a smoke and some quiet time alone. Likewise with either, stimulants and beverages can sometimes improve or lessen the experience (but certainly help the most dire situations easier to weather).

Achieving Equilibrium

The magic to concerts and intimacy depends on finding that elusive sweet spot between the known and the new, similarity and difference, effort and ease. Of course it happens only rarely – but it's the recollection of when they did, the awareness that it can happen, that inspires us to attempt once more: to {