Luton Town fans have called for Coldplay to change the lyrics of their song Yellow to match the football club’s orange home kit.

The plea came after the band were confirmed as headliners for Radio 1’s Big Weekend festival taking place at Stockwood Park, a 10-minute drive from the club’s ground, Kenilworth Road, in May.

Local people want the band to put a Lutonian spin on their hit song from 2000, saying it would honour the club and fans. Luton play in orange, navy and white. Just down the M1, Luton’s rivals Watford play in yellow.

Bex Jones, a Luton resident, appealed to the band’s lead singer, Chris Martin: “Come on Chris, do it! You have to, you’re coming to Luton for one night only.”

Kev Harper, of the Luton Town supporters’ trust, said it would be an honour for the team and town if the band made the change.

“The crowd would love it,” he told the BBC, joking that Coldplay “should have called it Orange in the first place, it’s a superior colour”.

James Taylor, a borough councillor, said: “We’ve seen some of the world’s biggest football teams come to Kenilworth Road and have to adapt their style of play, so why not have the world’s biggest band come to Luton and change the words just for us?”

The song, from Coldplay’s debut album Parachutes, was a breakthrough hit internationally and reached No 4 on the UK singles chart.

It would not be the first time artists have altered their lyrics to fit a situation. This year Status Quo created another version of their 1977 hit Rockin’ All Over the World, titled Savings All Over the Store, in collaboration with M&S to promote the store’s value range.

Taylor Swift appeared to change the lyrics to one of her hit songs, Karma, to mention her partner, Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs, during a concert in Buenos Aires last year. Swift sang “karma is the guy on the Chiefs coming straight home to me”, replacing the original lyrics “karma is the guy on the screen coming straight home to me”.

• This article was amended on 26 March 2024. An earlier version misattributed James Taylor’s quote to Kev Harper.