After all, it is THE biggest movie to hit the theatres so far this year. Spidey has been on magazine covers, newspaper front pages and in more commercial tie-ins than we care to think about. No doubt about it, this is definitely the web spinner’s weekend.

However, we would like to take this opportunity to remind you that there are very few places like Pollstar.com left on the Web. Places where you can check out the latest dates for Goo Goo Dolls or Jefferson Starship, browse a few new listings for Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe and catch up with your favorite acts, like Kirk Whalum, The Mission U.K. and Cher, without spending a single dime doing so.

It’s no secret that the days of accessing free content on the Net are becoming as rare as the number of people who still believe Robert Blake’s alibi. Sure, we’ve led the fight to keep content free so that you can view tour routings for bands like N.E.R.D. and The Romantics without having to pay a fee. However, we have to eat, too, and if we were to suffer a significant drop in eyeball shares, well, we’d just have to start charging folks to look at our tour data. No, we don’t like it one bit. But we don’t like starving either.

Besides, when you get right down to it, what does Spider-Man have that we don’t have? Does Spider-Man have the latest schedules for Kid Rock and Smokin’ Grooves 2002? Does Spider-Man have the big radio festivals like the WBCN River Rave or the HFStival 2002? Does Spider-Man have a slick e-commerce store where you can buy great Pink Floyd T-shirts? In fact, we’re willing to bet that you could spend all weekend at the multiplex and not hear Tobey Maguire or Kirsten Dunst mutter one single word about tour dates for great acts like A.F.I., Kottonmouth Kings and Static-X. Now, is that really entertainment?

Plus, when you think of all the little rug rats running around the theatre, screaming their heads off and wiping their goop-encrusted hands on the back of your chair, a weekend spent browsing schedules for Charlie Haden and Bryan Ferry doesn’t sound all that bad.

So, we’ll make you a deal. Skip Spider-Man this weekend, and we’ll do our best to serve up the freshest tours on the planet. We’ll give you the new routing for Social Distortion, the latest dates for Willie Nelson and the additional dates for Detroit Cobras and The Tragically Hip. And if there’s anything you want, anything at all, just email us, and we’ll get right on it.

However, we may not get crackin’ on it until Monday. Right now we’ve got a movie to see.