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Picture being gifted with a free evening. You're feeling energized, ready for adventure, and wanting to break from your usual routine of relaxing at home. Your options offers possibilities! Would you opt for a) going to a gig or b) having sex? The answer, as typically true with such kinds of queries, is plainly: “That depends.” Reasonable people could understandably wonder: what is the gig? Who is the partner? Could it be expected to be satisfying?

Few would select a Limp Bizkit/Slipknot/Korn triple bill if the alternative was a magical night with Jonathan Bailey. Yet change either end of the comparison, and it becomes less clearcut. For the 40,000 people posed this query by a live event company, no such clarification was provided – and the answer came out unambiguously and strongly preferring gigs.

Research Findings Reveal Surprising Choices

A global report, interviewing 40,000 people from 18 and 54 in multiple countries, found that gigs are now the most popular pastime, beating out games, movies and – indeed – intimacy. If restricted to a single form of entertainment permanently, nearly four in ten chose live music, versus watching movies (17%) and sports events (14%). They were also significantly more as inclined to prefer watching their top musician on stage (70%) rather than sexual activity (30%).

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

Context and Considerations

Certainly it's expected that a promotional study conducted for a concert promoter would result so overwhelmingly supporting gigs – and, with the speculative mood of a would-you-rather, if your favourite artist is, say Paul McCartney, you can see why attending his concert may be chosen over a common or garden situation. Yet this either-or decision between gigs or intimacy, obviously silly even if it seems, is interesting to reflect on considering the strange point we’re at with both.

The Change of Gig Attendance

Over the past few years, concert attendance has evolved into more than a communal experience but a serious endeavor. Event companies rightly note that arena crowds has “grown significantly each year”, and live events get booked up faster than ever. Simply getting tickets now requires military-level planning, quick decision-making and deep finances (or a high spending capacity). Even if you succeed, it isn't sufficient to simply turn up and enjoy the show. Currently there is an anticipation, especially for pop fans, that you can boost your return on investment by attending more than once (potentially going abroad), swotting up on the performance lineup in advance and memorizing the cues to follow and fan traditions created by previous crowds.

Numerous attendees admit to affected by their attendance at popular events: what seemed like a choreographed performance of thousands of people, to which some individuals arrived unfamiliar with the routine. The extended tour, generating billions, showed of the lengths to which people will go to participate in a cultural moment and experience their top musician sing, though the actual music grows somewhat less important than the show.

The Condition of Current Relationships

Sex, conversely – a relatively cheap and common experience – faces dire straits. Per recent surveys, about a quarter of individuals had sex in an regular period, while nearly 30% were not engaging. Elsewhere, current statistics revealed that more than 25% of individuals admitted to avoiding intimacy at all in the last twelve months, increasing from smaller percentages in the past. Across these regions, the trend has been associated with decreased encounters in youth demographics. Contrast this with the market booming for major events and the intense rivalry for admissions. Of course it isn't straightforward as a simple decision between one or the other – “would you rather see a major tour repeatedly, or avoid intimacy?” – but it's possibly an indication of which is perceived as the more reliable pleasure.

Surprising Parallels

Intimacy and concerts are more comparable than one may assume. Both represent the activation of a relationship, a actual experience of ideas or possibility that could have built only in your head. You come with a basic expectation of the probable outcome, but expecting to be happily shocked – and whether it proves enjoyable or disappointing depends very much on if your enthusiasm and anticipations match theirs. Quite often you might find with another person's locks 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 situation (but absolutely assist the worst experiences more bearable).

Finding the Balance

The wonder to both gigs and sex hinges on discovering that elusive sweet spot between the known and the new, consistency and change, challenge and comfort. Of course it's uncommon – but it's the remembrance of successful moments, the understanding that success is achievable, that drives us to give it another shot: to {