A Night to Remember: Is Attending Gigs Honestly Preferred Over Sex?
Picture finding yourself with a open night. You feel refreshed, ready for adventure, and looking to break from your typical schedule of post-work slumping. The world offers possibilities! Would you opt for a) going to a gig or b) engaging in intimacy? The response, as frequently true with these types of queries, is plainly: “It varies.” Thinking adults may reasonably wonder: what is the show? With whom is the other person? Will it be likely to be satisfying?
Few would pick a heavy metal lineup if the choice was a magical night with Jonathan Bailey. But adjust any part of the comparison, and it becomes less obvious. In the case of the thousands surveyed asked this question from a gig organization, no further clarification was provided – and the answer came out clearly and overwhelmingly preferring live music events.
Survey Results Reveal Unexpected Preferences
An international survey, questioning 40,000 people ranging from 18 and 54 across multiple countries, showed that gigs currently stand as the world’s top form of entertainment, ranking above games, movies and – yes – intimacy. When limited to only one option of entertainment for the rest of their lives, 39% of respondents picked gigs, compared to going to the cinema (17%) and athletic competitions (14%). They were also more than twice as likely to select attending their preferred performer on stage (70%) instead of sex (30%).
You appear expecting to be happily shocked – and quite often you could wind up with someone else’s hair in your mouth
Perspectives and Analysis
Naturally it’s not surprising that a marketing research carried out for a concert promoter should come out so heavily in favour of concerts – and, in the freewheeling tone of a hypothetical choice, if your top performer is, say a legendary singer, one can appreciate why seeing him might win out over a routine encounter. However this either-or decision between gigs or sexual activity, clearly absurd though it may be, is fascinating to reflect on considering the strange moment we’re at with these two aspects.
The Change of Gig Attendance
Lately, gig-going has evolved into more than a communal experience but a competitive sport. Major promoters appropriately highlight that arena crowds has “increased threefold each year”, and festivals sell out more rapidly than previously. Merely acquiring admissions now needs detailed strategy, rapid-fire response times and bottomless pockets (or a high spending capacity). Though you succeed, it’s not enough to just show up and watch the performance. Currently there is an expectation, especially for music enthusiasts, that you might enhance your return on investment by attending more than once (potentially going abroad), studying the performance lineup ahead of time and understanding the rituals to perform and fan traditions created by past attendees.
Many concertgoers report feeling scarred by their experience at major tours: what seemed like a choreographed performance of huge audiences, to which particular fans came not knowing the protocol. That 18-month tour, earning massive sums, was proof of the extents that fans will travel to feel part of a cultural moment and experience their top musician play, even if the real performance seems increasingly overshadowed by the show.
The State of Modern Intimacy
Sex, by contrast – a relatively cheap and available enjoyment – faces dire straits. Per recent surveys, approximately 25% of adults had sex in an typical week, while about three in ten were abstaining. In another major country, current statistics showed that more than 25% of people admitted to avoiding intimacy at all in the past year, rising from fewer people in the past. In these areas, the shift has been linked to reduced intimacy among younger people. Compare this with the sector driving growth for stadium extravaganzas and the intense rivalry for admissions. Of course it’s not as simple as a straightforward choice between one or the other – “do you prefer see a major tour often, or stay celibate?” – but it might be an signal of which is perceived as the more dependable pleasure.
Unexpected Similarities
Sex and live music are more comparable than one may assume. They both embody the activation of a bond, a real-world test of ideas or possibility that may have developed solely in your imagination. You show up with some idea of the probable outcome, but expecting to be delightfully amazed – and how it ends up good or bad rests largely on whether your energy and hopes match theirs. Quite often you might find with a stranger's hair in your mouth, and afterwards be hanging out for a smoke and a moment alone on your own. Similarly for each, drugs and alcohol can sometimes improve or detract from the event (but absolutely assist the most dire experiences more bearable).
Achieving Equilibrium
The appeal to live events and relationships depends on discovering that hard-to-find balance between familiarity and novelty, sameness and variation, work and relaxation. Naturally it happens only rarely – but it’s the memory of when it worked, the knowledge that it can happen, that drives us to try again: to {
