A Night to Remember: Is Live Music Really Favored More Than Sex?

Imagine finding yourself with a free evening. You feel energized, eager for new things, and hoping to shake up your usual routine of relaxing at home. The world offers possibilities! Do you prefer a) attending a concert or b) having sex? The outcome, as typically the case with these types of hypotheticals, is plainly: “It depends.” Thinking adults might logically ask: what kind of the concert? Who's the other person? Is it expected to be good?

Not many would select a Limp Bizkit/Slipknot/Korn triple bill if the other option was one enchanted evening with Jonathan Bailey. However tweak one side of the scenario, and it grows more complicated. Regarding the thousands surveyed presented with this choice through a live event company, no further context was provided – and the result emerged clearly and strongly supporting gigs.

Survey Results Indicate Surprising Trends

A global study, questioning a large sample ranging from 18 and 54 across 15 markets, showed that concerts have become the world’s top form of entertainment, beating out games, films and – yes – sexual intercourse. If restricted to only one option of enjoyment for the rest of their lives, nearly four in ten picked gigs, versus film attendance (17%) and sports events (14%). They were also significantly more as inclined to choose watching their top musician live (70%) instead of intimacy (30%).

You appear anticipating happily shocked – and quite often you’ll end up with another person's locks in your mouth

Context and Considerations

Of course it's expected that a marketing research conducted for a concert promoter might conclude so heavily supporting gigs – and, amid the playful spirit of a would-you-rather, if your favourite artist is, say a legendary singer, it's understandable why attending his concert could prevail rather than a common or garden experience. Yet this binary choice between live music or sexual activity, obviously silly though it may be, is noteworthy to think about amid the peculiar juncture we’re at with both.

The Change of Concert Culture

In recent years, live music participation has evolved into more than a communal experience but a competitive sport. Major promoters duly point out that stadium attendance has “tripled year-over-year”, and festivals get booked up faster than ever. Just obtaining tickets now needs detailed strategy, rapid-fire response times and deep finances (or a high spending capacity). Although you manage, it isn't sufficient to just show up and enjoy the show. Nowadays exists an anticipation, especially for concertgoers, that you could increase your experience quality by attending more than once (potentially going abroad), learning the song selection in advance and knowing your marks to follow and fan traditions created by past attendees.

Many concertgoers describe being scarred by their attendance at popular events: appearing as a orchestrated show of massive crowds, to which certain attendees arrived not knowing the steps. That 18-month tour, generating billions, showed of the lengths to which fans will travel to experience a significant event and experience their top musician play, though the real performance grows somewhat overshadowed by the production.

The State of Modern Intimacy

Intimacy, on the other hand – an affordable and common experience – faces challenging circumstances. Per modern research, approximately 25% of individuals were intimate in an typical week, while nearly 30% were not engaging. In another major country, current statistics revealed that more than 25% 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 attributed to less sexual activity in youth demographics. Contrast this with the sector driving growth for major events and the fierce battle for admissions. Naturally it’s not as simple as a simple decision between both alternatives – “do you prefer experience a popular event often, or remain abstinent?” – but it might be an indication of which is perceived as the more consistent pleasure.

Surprising Parallels

Sex and live music are more similar than people often believe. They both embody the initiation of a connection, a actual experience of impressions or promise that might have amassed solely in your imagination. You arrive with some idea of what might happen, but expecting to be pleasantly surprised – and how it ends up enjoyable or disappointing depends very much on if your enthusiasm and expectations align with others. Regularly you could wind up with a stranger's hair in your mouth, and later be lingering for a cigarette and personal space on your own. Likewise with either, stimulants and beverages can potentially heighten or lessen the event (but definitely make the most dire situations simpler to handle).

Seeking Harmony

The wonder to concerts and intimacy relies on discovering that hard-to-find balance between the known and the new, sameness and variation, challenge and comfort. Of course it happens only rarely – but it's the recollection of successful moments, the knowledge that success is achievable, that drives us to try again: to {