DEMAND for tickets to see Will Young in Ipswich has risen to fever pitch as eager fans try to snap them up for more than three times the original price.

DEMAND for tickets to see Will Young in Ipswich has risen to fever pitch as eager fans try to snap them up for more than three times the original price.

Three pairs of tickets for the Pop Idol's UK tour date at the Regent on May 25 are up for grabs on popular internet site eBay for well in excess of their face value.

Originally sold for £27.50 a ticket, the top bid for a pair of tickets in the stalls stands at £165 while the lowest is not far behind at £125.

But with more than three days until the bidding ends it is likely that these prices will rise even higher.

Will's popularity was first confirmed when tickets went on sale for his only East Anglian date on Friday and subsequently sold out in little more than an hour and a half.

It was a situation repeated across the country with the entire tour selling out in about three hours.

Prices for seats at venues on other dates on his intimate theatre tour are also reaching hundreds of pounds. The top price on eBay stands at £595 for four seats in a private box at his Royal Festival Hall concert on May 31.

Will Young is clearly one of the UK's hottest male stars and the success of his first ever solo tour is proof that his popularity, far from waning since he was voted the nation's first Pop Idol in February 2002, has continued to rise.

He has enjoyed two number one albums, six chart-topping singles, a Brit award in 2003 and a Brit nomination in 2004.

And both his current single, Your Game, and album, Friday's Child, continue to hold on to their places near to the top of their respective charts.

n Will Young will be performing at Ipswich Regent on May 25. The concert is sold out.

Weblink: www.wyoung.co.uk