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Picture finding yourself with a night off. You feel rejuvenated, eager for new things, and hoping to change your regular habits of evening scrolling. The world offers possibilities! Do you opt for a) seeing live music or b) engaging in intimacy? The response, as frequently true with these sorts of queries, is plainly: “It varies.” Reasonable people could understandably wonder: what's the concert? Who is the other person? Could it be likely to be enjoyable?

Few would choose a heavy metal lineup if the choice was one enchanted evening with a beloved celebrity. Yet change either end of the comparison, and it turns less clearcut. In the case of the thousands surveyed posed this query from a major concert promoter, no such context was provided – and the answer came out decisively and heavily supporting concerts.

Research Findings Reveal Interesting Preferences

An international survey, questioning a large sample from 18 and 54 from multiple countries, showed that concerts currently stand as the number one pastime, ranking above sports, films and – absolutely – sexual intercourse. Given the choice to a single form of entertainment forever, a significant portion picked concerts, compared to watching movies (17%) and sports events (14%). They were also over two times as prone to prefer seeing their favourite artist on stage (70%) instead of sex (30%).

You appear anticipating delightfully amazed – and regularly you could wind up with another person's locks in your mouth

Factors and Reflections

Certainly it’s not surprising that a marketing research conducted for a gig organizer would result so strongly in favour of live shows – and, with the speculative spirit of a either-or question, if your preferred musician is, such as a legendary singer, you can see why seeing him may be chosen over a routine situation. However this either-or decision between concerts or sexual activity, clearly absurd though it may be, is fascinating to reflect on considering the strange moment we face with each.

The Transformation of Live Music Experience

Over the past few years, concert attendance has become not just a group event but a competitive sport. Event companies rightly note that large venue turnout has “tripled each year”, and live events get booked up quicker than before. Just obtaining tickets now needs detailed strategy, rapid-fire response times and bottomless pockets (or a generous credit card limit). Even if you manage, it isn't sufficient to simply turn up and enjoy the show. Nowadays exists an anticipation, at least among concertgoers, that you might enhance your enjoyment value by attending more than once (even travelling internationally), studying the performance lineup beforehand and understanding the rituals to hit and fan traditions created by earlier audiences.

Several fans report feeling shaken by their attendance at large concerts: what seemed like a orchestrated show of thousands of people, to which certain attendees arrived unfamiliar with the protocol. That 18-month event, generating billions, demonstrated of the degree to which fans will travel to feel part of a cultural moment and see their favourite artist play, even if the real performance grows somewhat overshadowed by the spectacle.

The State of Current Relationships

Sexual activity, conversely – an affordable and available enjoyment – experiences dire straits. Per modern research, nearly one in four of adults engaged sexually in an regular period, while just under a third were not engaging. In another major country, recent data indicated that over a quarter of adults reported not having intimacy even once in the past year, up from smaller percentages in the past. In both territories, the trend has been linked to less sexual activity in youth demographics. Juxtapose this with the market driving growth for major events and the intense rivalry for passes. Certainly it’s not as simple as a straightforward choice between one or the other – “would you rather attend a huge concert repeatedly, or stay celibate?” – but it might be an indication of what is viewed as the more reliable pleasure.

Surprising Parallels

Intimacy and concerts are more similar than one may assume. Both represent the activation of a relationship, a actual experience of ideas or possibility that may have developed solely in your imagination. You show up with a basic expectation of what might happen, but hopeful of being delightfully amazed – and whether it proves good or bad rests largely on whether your energy and anticipations correspond with partners. Regularly you could wind up with a stranger's hair in your mouth, and following be lingering for a smoke and some quiet time by yourself. Similarly for each, drugs and alcohol can sometimes improve or detract from the situation (but certainly help the most unpleasant experiences simpler to handle).

Finding the Balance

The magic to live events and relationships depends on locating that perfect combination between comfort and excitement, sameness and variation, effort and ease. Certainly it occurs infrequently – but it's the recollection of when it worked, the knowledge that it can happen, that motivates us to give it another shot: to {