Can Jewel fans fall in love with Motorhead followers? Do Sting worshippers ever date Arlo Guthrie aficionados? And what about Jimmy Buffett’s parrotheads? Can they form deep, emotional attachments with those who choose to listen to nothing but CDs by Britney Spears and Metallica 24/7?

Sure, studies have been done, endless surveys have asked countless questions and inhuman experiments have been conducted on laboratory animals in order to better humanity, but the jury’s still out when it comes to concert compatibility. Furthermore, while everyone agrees that more relationships are formed during shows by Fleetwood Mac or Ziggy Marley than incidents of, say, open heart surgery or the exchanging of insurance information during fender-bender automobile accidents, we still don’t know if similar concert tastes can lead a couple down the path of harmonious companionship and marital bliss.

Confused? You’re not alone. From the nightclubs of New York City to the sun setting on the Strip in Los Angeles, concert venues are filled with lonely souls seeking musical mates, often resorting to portraying insincere affections for certain bands and artists, otherwise known as “faking it,” to attract prospective significant others.

Writes one Pollstar.com user: I was married for twelve years to, what I thought, was a Sarah Brightman fan. You can imagine the shock, not to mention the extreme indignation, when I came home early one day and found him messing around with a Cheap Trick CD.

Sad? You bet. What’s worse is the number of divorces and broken homes (at last count, 44,312 this year and rising), brought about by couples arguing about whether to see Dillinger Escape Plan instead of Wayne Newton, or whether it’s appropriate to wear a Vines T-shirt when seeing Rush. In fact, when you consider the number of concert goers that consider themselves to belong to either one of the two most popular sexes, and the sheer number of bands and artists that are currently on the road, it’s a wonder that anyone, anywhere, manages to hook up at all.

Are concerts important when it comes to love? Do only fools rush into relationships based on a shared attraction to Blues Traveler? Will anyone buy a cow when they can get milk for free off of Kazaa? We don’t know the answers to these questions. In fact, we’re not too sure if love is the answer. For while the poets of the ages have penned insightful tomes such as “Love Hurts,” “Love Stinks,” “Love Bites” and “Stairway To Heaven” – when it comes to concerts, maybe we’re all just victims of love.