Offset Festival was a musical festival held at Hainault Forest Country Park, just outside

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, from 2008 to 2010.

2008

The first event aimed to join the dots between cutting-edge, new artists and their influences, with 8 stages covering art rock, post-punk, indie, rock and electro. The event was headlined by influential post-punk bands

Wire Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample diameter 40 mm A wire is a flexible strand of metal. Wire is c ...

and Gang of Four, with performances from the likes of Black Devil Disco Club,

Neils Children Neils Children are an English rock band, formed in 1999 in Harlow, Essex, England, by lead singer and guitarist John Linger, drummer Brandon Jacobs and bassist Tom Hawkins. The band were originally based in their hometown of Cheshunt, Hertfor ...

Prinzhorn Dance School Prinzhorn Dance School is an English musical duo, which consists of Tobin Prinz and Suzi Horn. The duo were originally based in Brighton and Portsmouth and made their debut in 2007. The group is named for Dr. Hans Prinzhorn, who collected art b ...

My Vitriol My Vitriol are a British alternative rock band, formed in 1999 in London. The band currently comprises singer and guitarist Som Wardner, drummer Ravi Kesavaram, guitarist Seth Taylor and bassist Tatia Starkey. The band had success with their de ...

(who re-formed to play) and Drum Eyes (DJ Scotch Egg's band). New artists included

Blood Red Shoes Blood Red Shoes are an English alternative rock duo from Brighton consisting of Laura-Mary Carter and Steven Ansell. They have released six full-length albums, '' Box of Secrets'' (2008), '' Fire Like This'' (2010), '' In Time to Voices'' (2012) ...

, XX Teens, X-Certs, ULTERIOR,

Chrome Hoof Chrome Hoof are an experimental chamber rock orchestra based in London, England. The group was formed in 2000 by Cathedral bassist Leo Smee and his brother Milo Smee. Initially performing as a duo, their music was mostly electronic. Sinc ...

Metronomy Metronomy are an English electronic music group formed in 1999. As of 2021, the band consists of Joseph Mount (vocals, keyboards and guitar), Oscar Cash (keyboards, backing vocals, guitar and saxophone), Anna Prior (drums and vocals), Olugbeng ...

Johnny Foreigner Johnny Foreigner are an indie rock four-piece from Birmingham, UK, consisting of guitarist and lead vocalist Alexei Berrow, bassist and vocalist Kelly Parker (née Southern), drummer Junior Elvis Washington Laidley, and guitarist and visual ar ...

, Kill Casino, The Maccabees,

Young Knives Young Knives are an English indie rock band from Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire. The name is based on a misunderstanding of "young knaves", which was found by the band when rummaging through a book. The band was originally named Simple Past ...

and 180 others. Tickets were priced at £45 for the weekend. Stages were curated by

Last.FM Last.fm is a music website founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. Using a music recommender system called "Audioscrobbler", Last.fm builds a detailed profile of each user's musical taste by recording details of the tracks the user listens to, e ...

, Experimental Circle Club and Artrocker magazine.

2009

The Offset Festival returned on September 5–6, 2009, with

The Slits The Slits were a punk and post-punk band based in London, formed there in 1976 by members of the groups the Flowers of Romance and the Castrators. The group's early line-up consisted of Ari Up (Ariane Forster) and Palmolive (a.k.a. Paloma R ...

The Horrors The Horrors are an English rock band formed in Southend-on-Sea in 2005, consisting of lead vocalist Faris Badwan, guitarist Joshua Hayward, keyboardist and synthesizer player Tom Furse, bassist Rhys Webb, and drummer and percussionist Joe Spu ...

A Certain Ratio A Certain Ratio (abbreviated as ACR) are an English post-punk band formed in 1977 in Flixton, Greater Manchester by Peter Terrell (guitar, electronics) and Simon Topping (vocals, trumpet), with additional members Jez Kerr (bass, vocals), Martin ...

, Kap Bambino and

The Futureheads The Futureheads are an English post-punk band from Sunderland, formed in 2000. The band consists of Ross Millard (vocals and guitar), David "Jaff" Craig (vocals and bass guitar) and brothers Barry Hyde (vocals and guitar) and Dave Hyde (drums ...

. A comedy tent was also introduced run by rock and roll comedian Bob Slayer

2010

The Offset Festival returned in 2010 on September 4–5, 2010, with first artists announced as

Liquid Liquid Liquid Liquid is an American no wave and dance-punk group, originally active from 1980 to 1983. They are best known for their track "Cavern," which was covered—without proper permission or attribution—by the Sugar Hill Records house band as ...

Cluster may refer to: Science and technology Astronomy * Cluster (spacecraft), constellation of four European Space Agency spacecraft * Asteroid cluster, a small asteroid family * Cluster II (spacecraft), a European Space Agency mission to study t ...

Telepathe Telepathe (pronounced ''telepathy'' and meant with some literal meaning) are an electronic pop duo from Brooklyn consisting of core members Busy Gangnes and Melissa Livaudais. The band also includes other occasional musicians, such as Ryan Lucero. ...

These New Puritans These New Puritans are an English music group/band from Southend-on-Sea, England. It consists mainly of Jack Barnett (principal songwriter, vocalist, producer, multi-instrumentalist) and his twin brother George Barnett (drums, electronics, prod ...

and many more including Sauna Youth and Athens Polytechnic. It was previewed in ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' magazine as "one of the most genuinely left-of-centre two-dayers to emerge recently, this new favourite might boast kraut pioneers Cluster and Brooklyn hype victims Telepathe but it's the spread of music across the weekend that won Offset so many friends last year." {{coords, 51.61, 0.13, display=title Rock festivals in England Music festivals in London