Danny Fullbrook,BBC News, Bedfordshire
Coldplay thrilled fans with a special song called Orange dedicated to Luton Town Football Club during its set at Radio 1’s Big Weekend.
The group, fronted by Chris Martin, headlined the festival at Stockwood Park, in Luton.
There had been a campaign by local football fans for the group to change the lyrics of its song Yellow to Orange. Instead Martin performed an ode to the town.
It referenced The Hatters playing in orange, while the team’s rivals Watford wear yellow.
During the performance, the frontman told the audience to “trust” him and to “relax” as he approached the end of the set.
“If you’re from Luton, I’m going to ask you to just suspend your anger or fears or anything you might be worried about at this point in our concert of what songs we might play or might not play,” he said.
He then explained to the crowd that a month ago he had heard people in Luton might be concerned if he sang Yellow.
“It reached me a while ago,” he said, “that there were some people in Luton who were worried or disgruntled and maybe even angry about the concept of our band coming here and singing a song called Yellow because… of the Hatters and Kenilworth Road and the Luton Town Football Club.”
Martin said that as he has grown older he has learned that if people “come at you with hatred and aggression” you can respond with “love”.
To huge cheers, he introduced the new song he said he had finished in his hotel room the night before.
He called it a “once-in-a-lifetime thing” – and said it “may not be good enough” to be heard again.
It opened with the lyric: “It’s hard to be a football fan here in Luton Town.”
‘The most beautiful night of my life
And he went on: “We didn’t win all our matches, we didn’t win the cup.
“But when you get knocked down in Luton, you always get back up.
“So you can come in singing Yellow, that’s all right with me, I prefer a warmer colour spelt o-r-a-n-g-e.”
Martin burst into a chorus of “I love you Luton”, then added there was “no disrespect to Watford”.
BBC Three Counties radio presenter Justin Dealey, who started the campaign to change Yellow to Orange, alongside Luton resident Bex Jones, said: “I knew something special was coming.”
Martina Skalecki who was born in Luton and watched Coldplay with her boyfriend, described it as “the most beautiful night of my life”.
“The song he played at the end for Luton was epic,” she added.
“I literally can’t get over that, it was beautiful scenes, it was so lovely.”
Luton fan Bhajan admitted he did not know about the campaign to change the song lyrics to yellow but said it “made sense” considering the Watford rivalry.
He said: “When I found out he made that new song ‘Orange’ for us, that is unbelievable”
Another fan, who was wearing an orange Luton shirt, joined his family in singing the lyrics, with one expressing shock that “Coldplay said Luton”.
More on Coldplay at Big Weekend
