The Cure’s Robert Smith has said the band’s upcoming new album is “not going to be that enjoyable”.
The English rock group are working on their first studio album since 2008’s 4:13 Dream, and have previously teased that it is very dark.
The band are set to play Glastonbury on Sunday night, but Smith told Jo Whiley on BBC Radio 2 they are more likely to play familiar music.
He said: “So rehearsing for the summer festivals we did spend a day running through new stuff and at the end of it we just looked at each other and said none of this going to work in a festival setting.
“I’ve learnt something over the last few years – if you want to have a good festival show you have to engage the crowd, they have to be on your side. You want them to love you.
“It’s not necessarily the case when you’re playing your own shows, you kind of challenge people a bit more but Glastonbury they have no idea who’s on until it’s announced so people buy the tickets as an event.
“We’re just a small part of the event and so the show, whatever form it takes, it will be songs that people know.”
Smith went on: “We played Hyde Park last year and it showed me that if you play the right songs in the right way you will get a crowd, however big it is, to go along with you and that’s really what I want when we step out on stage.
“I want the crowd to be part of the show, not for us to stand there and say ‘Here’s 10 minutes of doom and gloom, you’d better enjoy it.’
“The new album, in a funny way, it’s not going to be that enjoyable.
“I know I shouldn’t say that… it’s something, it’s a piece, we’ve tried and it just won’t work.
“We’ve tried to squeeze a couple of songs in. I can imagine the crowd just staring back at us when we’re playing it.”
Smith said he was not apprehensive ahead of the band’s set.
“I’ve never been nervous, just a funny thing with me,” he said.
“I don’t know what’s the matter with me. That wire’s missing!
“But the rest of the band do get varying degrees almost paralysed with nerves as the show approaches. I’m always running around saying ‘Come on, enjoy it, you won’t get it back!’.”