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Picture finding yourself with a night off. You are rejuvenated, ready for adventure, and wanting to change your usual routine of relaxing at home. Your options awaits your choice! Would you choose a) seeing live music or b) being with a partner? The response, as is often true with these sorts of queries, is obviously: “It varies.” Reasonable people might logically inquire: what's the concert? Who's the companion? Could it be likely to be good?

Few would pick a heavy metal lineup if the other option was a magical night with Jonathan Bailey. However tweak any part of the comparison, and it turns less clearcut. In the case of the 40,000 people presented with this choice from a gig organization, no additional clarification was given – and the result emerged unambiguously and overwhelmingly preferring live music events.

Research Findings Show Unexpected Preferences

A global survey, interviewing thousands of participants aged between 18 and 54 in 15 markets, showed that live music are now the world’s top leisure activity, ranking above sports, movies and – indeed – sex. When limited to only one option of activity for the rest of their lives, 39% of respondents selected gigs, versus watching movies (17%) and athletic competitions (14%). The group was over two times as likely to choose seeing their favourite artist on stage (70%) rather than intimacy (30%).

You appear anticipating pleasantly surprised – and frequently you’ll end up with someone else’s hair in your mouth

Factors and Reflections

Of course it’s not surprising that a promotional study conducted for a live event company should come out so overwhelmingly in favour of concerts – and, with the speculative mood of a would-you-rather, if your preferred musician is, say Paul McCartney, one can appreciate why seeing him could prevail rather than a routine experience. However this two-option scenario between live music or sex, obviously silly even if it seems, is noteworthy to reflect on given the odd moment we experience with these two aspects.

The Change of Concert Culture

In recent years, gig-going has evolved into more than a communal experience but a serious endeavor. Live organizations duly point out that large venue turnout has “tripled each year”, and live events get booked up more rapidly than previously. Merely acquiring admissions now needs military-level planning, rapid-fire response times and deep finances (or a generous credit card limit). Though you manage, it isn't sufficient to just show up and watch the performance. Nowadays exists an anticipation, especially for music enthusiasts, that you can boost your experience quality by attending more than once (even travelling internationally), swotting up on the performance lineup in advance and knowing your marks to perform and fan traditions developed through past attendees.

Many attendees admit to scarred by their experience at major tours: appearing as a choreographed performance of huge audiences, where certain attendees arrived unfamiliar with the protocol. Those lengthy tour, generating billions, was proof of the lengths to which attendees will push to feel part of a significant event and see their favourite artist perform, though the live sound appears more and more secondary to the show.

The Situation of Current Relationships

Sexual activity, on the other hand – a relatively cheap and common experience – is in challenging circumstances. Based on modern research, nearly one in four of adults were intimate in an typical week, while nearly 30% were not engaging. Elsewhere, current statistics indicated that over a quarter of people admitted to avoiding intimacy at all in the previous year, increasing from lower numbers in earlier years. In both territories, the trend has been attributed to less sexual activity in youth demographics. Contrast this with the market booming for large concerts and the intense rivalry for tickets. Of course it isn't straightforward as a simple decision between one or the other – “would you rather see a major tour repeatedly, or remain abstinent?” – but it might be an signal of which is perceived as the more consistent pleasure.

Interesting Comparisons

Relationships and gigs are more comparable than people often believe. They both embody the initiation of a connection, a practical trial of impressions or possibility that might have amassed solely in your imagination. You come with a basic expectation of the probable outcome, but expecting to be pleasantly surprised – and how it ends up satisfying or frustrating rests largely on whether your energy and anticipations match theirs. Regularly you’ll end up with a stranger's hair in your mouth, and later be hanging out for a cigarette and some quiet time by yourself. And, in both cases, substances and drinks can sometimes improve or detract from the situation (but absolutely assist the most dire experiences easier to weather).

Seeking Harmony

The wonder to both gigs and sex depends on discovering that elusive sweet spot between familiarity and novelty, similarity and difference, challenge and comfort. Certainly it happens only rarely – but it's the remembrance of when it worked, the awareness that success is achievable, that drives us to attempt once more: to {