A Night Out to Remember: Are Concerts Really Preferred Over Sex?

Picture finding yourself with a open night. You're feeling rejuvenated, ready for adventure, and hoping to change your typical schedule of evening scrolling. Your options is your oyster! Would you choose a) going to a gig or b) engaging in intimacy? The response, as is often the case with these sorts of hypotheticals, is clearly: “It depends.” Reasonable people may reasonably ask: what kind of the gig? Who is the other person? Could it be going to be satisfying?

Hardly anyone would pick a Limp Bizkit/Slipknot/Korn triple bill if the other option was a magical night with a beloved celebrity. Yet change one side of the comparison, and it turns less obvious. Regarding the 40,000 people posed this query from a major concert promoter, no further clarification was offered – and the answer came out clearly and heavily supporting gigs.

Study Data Indicate Unexpected Trends

An international survey, interviewing thousands of participants ranging from 18 and 54 across multiple countries, found that gigs currently stand as the world’s top pastime, surpassing games, cinema and – absolutely – sex. When limited to a single form of entertainment for the rest of their lives, 39% of respondents selected live music, against film attendance (17%) and athletic competitions (14%). The group was over two times as likely to prefer watching their top musician in concert (70%) instead of sex (30%).

You arrive anticipating delightfully amazed – and regularly you’ll end up with a stranger's hair in your mouth

Context and Considerations

Certainly it's expected that a promotional study carried out for a gig organizer should come out so strongly supporting gigs – and, with the speculative tone of a would-you-rather, if your top performer is, say an iconic star, one can appreciate why seeing him might win out rather than a routine encounter. Yet this binary choice between gigs or intimacy, clearly absurd as it is, is interesting to think about amid the peculiar juncture we experience with both.

The Transformation of Concert Culture

In recent years, gig-going has grown beyond a communal experience but a competitive sport. Major promoters appropriately highlight that large venue turnout has “grown significantly annually”, and live events sell out more rapidly than previously. Merely acquiring admissions now requires detailed strategy, instant reactions and significant funds (or a generous credit card limit). Though you’re successful, it isn't sufficient to merely attend and experience the event. Currently there is an anticipation, particularly with music enthusiasts, that you might enhance your enjoyment value by going multiple times (potentially going abroad), swotting up on the set list in advance and understanding the rituals to hit and audience interactions developed through earlier audiences.

Numerous attendees describe being affected by their participation at large concerts: appearing as a scripted production of thousands of people, where some individuals arrived not knowing the routine. Those lengthy event, generating billions, showed of the lengths to which attendees will push to experience a significant event and watch their preferred performer perform, although the real performance appears more and more overshadowed by the spectacle.

The Condition of Current Relationships

Sex, by contrast – a relatively cheap and available enjoyment – is in difficult times. Per modern research, nearly one in four of people engaged sexually in an average week, while just under a third were abstaining. In another major country, modern figures showed that more than 25% of individuals said they had not sexual activity at all in the past year, increasing from lower numbers in earlier years. In these areas, the shift has been attributed to reduced intimacy in youth demographics. Compare this with the industry booming for major events and the fierce battle for tickets. Certainly it's more complicated as a basic option between one or the other – “would you rather see a major tour multiple times, or avoid intimacy?” – but it’s perhaps an indication of how people see the more dependable pleasure.

Interesting Comparisons

Sex and live music are closer aligned than you might think. They both embody the commencement of a connection, a actual experience of expectations or potential that might have amassed just in your mind. You come with some idea of the probable outcome, but expecting to be happily shocked – and how it ends up good or bad depends very much on whether your energy and hopes match theirs. Regularly you could wind up with another person's locks in your mouth, and later be hanging out for a cigarette and a moment alone on your own. Similarly for each, drugs and alcohol can sometimes improve or reduce the situation (but certainly help the most unpleasant experiences more bearable).

Achieving Equilibrium

The magic to both gigs and sex relies on locating that elusive sweet spot between comfort and excitement, sameness and variation, work and relaxation. Of course it occurs infrequently – but it's the remembrance of when it worked, the awareness that it can happen, that drives us to give it another shot: to {