The Week’s Top Five Reads (2/9/09 – 2/13/09)

That is, other than postings about Toby Keith, Rufus Wainwright or that idiot who claimed to be Foreigner’s drummer when the cops nabbed him for grand theft auto?

Tour announcements and the business of music seemed to be the big topics. Folks were either checking out the latest word on the Live Nation / Ticketmaster merger, or eyeballing stories about newly announced touring schedules.

Here’s our top five stories of the week, as chosen by Pollstar.com readers.

5. Get Ready For blink-182 – The band is back together, they’re working on an album and promising a summer tour. No actual dates were announced but that didn’t stop our readers from making this fifth most popular story of the week.

4. Live Nation, Ticketmaster Announce Merger – Not a story, but a posting of the official press release announcing the corporate entity at the top of the concert food chain. Filled with corporate speak and spin, our readers took to this item like service charges on Bruce Springsteen tickets.

3. Diller Addresses Springsteen Debacle – More Live Nation / Ticketmaster news. This one’s about Ticketmaster Chairman Barry Diller defending his company’s operation, and blaming any online ticketing problems on Visa. Nice going, Barry.

2. Bizkit To Limp Again – Limp Bizkit’s original lineup, a new album and tour. Why? Because they’re bored. Oh, well … Idle hands and all that.

1. Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood! – Yeah! That’s the ticket! At least for this week when Pollstar.com readers made the Clapton / Winwood tour announcement Pollstar.com’s top news story of the week. Now, let’s see if they can make this the top tour of the year.