SHED Seven will be "going for gold" for the last time tonight - as touts sell tickets for the historic gig at up to £100 each.

The York Barbican Centre has been sold out for weeks as fans clamour to see what will be their last ever performance.

Tickets for the gig have been selling on the internet auction website, Ebay, for more than FIVE times their actual value,

Frontman Rick Witter told the Evening Press he was expecting it to be an emotionally-charged occasion. "This tour is all about saying farewell to the fans," he said. "It's the big one at the Barbican tonight and we're well up for it. I would like to say a big thank you to everyone." York cabbie Tony Miller, who lives off Poppleton Road, worked as a driver for the band in their early days.

"I'm really proud of them," he said. "They were always genuine and kept their feet on the ground even after hitting the big time. "It's going to be a really sad and I will be very emotional."

Shed Seven fans across York have vowed to give the band a big send off.

Adam Robinson, 21, who lives off Boroughbridge Road, said: "I'm really sad because it's the last gig.

"They are easily the best band to come out of York and the fact tickets are selling for £100 just shows how popular they are."

Bob Graham, of Acomb, said: "I'm going to do my first crowd surf as it's their last gig. It will be a bit special."

Report: Matthew Woodcock

...Sheds you lose

TO THOUSANDS of music fans in York and across the UK Shed Seven could do no wrong.

They regularly played sold out shows and their album A Maximum High shifted a quarter of a million copies.

But among some sections of the national music media it became trendy to have a go at the band. Undoubtedly some of the writers didn't believe their own words, but simply jumped on an easy bandwagon.

Whenever the band got some coverage in music bible the NME, it was packed with sarcasm and cheap jibes.

One example from an NME live review read: "Shed 7 suck, like Wimpey Homes suck, like Wimpy meals suck, like wimpy, ambitionless, easily-sated indie pop sucks. They blow, like a constant diet of gruel and gravy would blow, like a life in sepia would blow, like a torrid night with William Hague would blow. Shed 7: they suck, they blow. But, most importantly, they do not (repeat) DO NOT ROCK."

Fibbers boss Tim Hornsby, a constant champion of the Sheds, believes the band suffered because they didn't hang around in the music media's favoured pubs and clubs.

He said: "The press hunt as a pack. They are scared to be seen to be disagreeing with each other."

Band manager Dave Leaper said: "The music press decided that York was not fashionable enough. Sixteen top 40 hits and ten appearances on Top of the Pops speaks for itself."

The Evening Press contacted the NME and Q magazine to ask about the negative media coverage.

Both publications failed to return our calls.

But the reporter who picked up the phone at Q magazine said sarcastically: "Perhaps it's because they're not very good."

One of the band's few national supporters has been Radio One DJ Chris Moyles.

The station dropped the Sheds from its playlist, saying their music was not relevant to its audience.

But outspoken Moyles regularly backed the band and continued playing their music.

Report: Richard Edwards

Updated: 10:45 Saturday, December 20, 2003