A Night to Cherish: Are Concerts Really Preferred Over Sex?
Picture having a free evening. You're feeling refreshed, ready for adventure, and wanting to change your usual routine of post-work slumping. Life itself offers possibilities! Could you choose a) attending a concert or b) being with a partner? The response, as is often the case with such kinds of hypotheticals, is plainly: “It depends.” Thinking adults may reasonably inquire: what's the show? Who's the other person? Could it be likely to be enjoyable?
Few would choose a Limp Bizkit/Slipknot/Korn triple bill if the alternative was one enchanted evening with a beloved celebrity. However tweak either end of the equation, and it turns less clearcut. Regarding the thousands surveyed posed this query through a gig organization, no further context was provided – and the answer emerged clearly and overwhelmingly in favour of gigs.
Study Data Indicate Unexpected Trends
An international study, interviewing a large sample from 18 and 54 across different nations, showed that live music have become the world’s top form of entertainment, ranking above athletic events, cinema and – absolutely – sex. Given the choice to a single form of entertainment for the rest of their lives, nearly four in ten selected gigs, compared to film attendance (17%) and games (14%). Participants were significantly more as likely to choose attending their preferred performer on stage (70%) instead of intimacy (30%).
You arrive anticipating delightfully amazed – and quite often you’ll end up with a stranger's hair in your mouth
Perspectives and Analysis
Naturally it makes sense that a PR survey commissioned by a live event company should come out so strongly supporting concerts – and, in the freewheeling tone of a would-you-rather, if your top performer is, for example Paul McCartney, it's understandable why attending his concert may be chosen over a routine encounter. Yet this either-or decision between gigs or intimacy, plainly ridiculous even if it seems, is noteworthy to reflect on amid the peculiar moment we’re at with each.
The Transformation of Gig Attendance
Over the past few years, concert attendance has become not just a shared activity but a competitive sport. Live organizations duly point out that arena crowds has “increased threefold year-over-year”, and live events are fully reserved faster than ever. Merely acquiring tickets now requires military-level planning, quick decision-making and deep finances (or a high spending capacity). Even if you’re successful, that alone won't do to just show up and watch the performance. There’s now an assumption, especially for music enthusiasts, that you could increase your enjoyment value by attending more than once (even travelling internationally), learning the song selection ahead of time and understanding the rituals to hit and fan traditions created by past attendees.
Many attendees admit to shaken by their experience at major tours: what felt like a orchestrated show of massive crowds, to which some individuals turned up unfamiliar with the protocol. Those lengthy event, generating billions, demonstrated of the lengths to which people will go to experience a significant event and watch their preferred performer play, though the real performance seems increasingly overshadowed by the spectacle.
The Condition of Modern Intimacy
Sex, conversely – a relatively cheap and available enjoyment – experiences challenging circumstances. Per recent surveys, nearly one in four of individuals engaged sexually in an typical week, while just under a third were abstaining. In another major country, recent data showed that more than 25% of individuals said they had not sexual activity at all in the last twelve months, up from lower numbers in the past. In these areas, the change has been associated with decreased encounters among younger people. Compare this with the market driving growth for large concerts and the intense rivalry for admissions. Certainly it’s not as simple as a straightforward choice between one or the other – “would you rather see a major tour multiple times, or remain abstinent?” – but it’s perhaps an sign of which is perceived as the more consistent satisfaction.
Surprising Parallels
Intimacy and concerts are more similar than people often believe. Each symbolizes the initiation of a relationship, a actual experience of ideas or potential that may have developed only in your head. You arrive with some idea of the probable outcome, but expecting to be delightfully amazed – and if it turns out satisfying or frustrating relies heavily on how your vibe and hopes match theirs. Regularly you could wind up with another person's locks in your mouth, and afterwards be lingering for a smoke and some quiet time alone. Similarly for each, stimulants and beverages can either enhance or lessen the event (but absolutely assist the worst occasions easier to weather).
Achieving Equilibrium
The magic to live events and relationships depends on finding that hard-to-find balance between the known and the new, sameness and variation, work and relaxation. Certainly it happens only rarely – but it’s the memory of when it worked, the knowledge that it’s possible, that drives us to attempt once more: to {
