Friday 24th and Saturday 25th April will see Camden once again become one giant party with the arrival of this year’s Camden Crawl. For those that have never been the premise is simple - one tickets gets you access to over 40 Camden venues and over 30 hours of live music, comedy, spoken word, theatre and much more…

Endorsed by Colin Newman himself, apparently. Genius.

Offset headliners and post-punk legends Wire have announced they will be warming up for their forthcoming tour with an intimate gig at London’s Cargo.

Anyone who caught their incendiary performance at Offset will know this will be an event to catch. Get your tickets here. As a bonus, Daytrotter Radio have posted up a live set from the band on their website.

WIRE talk about the many bands they’ve influenced, angering the punk scene and…erm, Victoria’s Secret adverts.

Most of the world was quicker than us at bringing you the latest lineup updates for Offset Festival 2008 (hey, we work too!), but the announcements are so good I want to get myself excited again by running through the list one more time, and maybe even convince a few of you ditherers to snap up your tickets for our August shindig in Hainault Forest. Additions to Saturday 30th August’s main stage include JOHNNY FOREIGNER, XX TEENS, THE STRANGE DEATH OF LIBERAL ENGLAND, FUTURE OF THE LEFT, THE VICTORIAN ENGLISH GENTLEMENS CLUB, and THOMAS TANTRUM. Sunday’s main stage, meanwhile, now runs with BLOOD RED SHOES, HOT CLUB DE PARIS, SO SO MODERN, MATHS CLASS, OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT, and OPERAHOUSE.

The headliners for the two days’ main stages are: YOUNG KNIVES followed by WIRE on the Saturday, and THE MACCABEES set on the Sunday night will precede GANG OF FOUR’s energetic and urgent closing of what’s sure to be one of the best festival’s of the summer. There are still a few more big announcements to be made - we’ll try and be FIRST to those for you…

With Metronomy, Prinzhorn Dance School, Fightstar, Tom McRae, Ipso Facto (I could list the whole line-up here it’s that good!) on some of the 6 other stages, your next pay-day should be the latest you leave it to grab yourself a dirt-cheap ticket for the best weekend of the year. Here are the ticket options, including one-dayers which have just gone on sale:

BUY TICKETS HERE

So - 150 bands from £45 for a whole weekend, some of the most vital bands in music history side by side with the bands who are picking up where they left off and dragging rock ‘n’ roll into the 21st century, and it’s still not enough for you? What’s that? You want a funfair? AND a rare breeds farm? Ok, happy now? No, really…

If you haven’t got your tickets for Offset Festival yet, here’s a push in mp3 form why you should be there. Not only are there literally hundreds of your favourite (and new favourite) bands pitching up on August 30-31st for a stupidly low price, we’re honoured enough to have living legends Wire headlining, highlighting Offset’s ethos of new bands playing on the same bill as their influences. Wire have confirmed their new album, Object 47, will be released on Monday July 7th, and they’ve also been lovely enough to release a brand new track, for free, for your ears. Please download here, and pre-orders for the album will be taken soon at PostEverything. You can get loads more Wire for your ears and eyes at our very own Wire post here, and at PinkFlag.com.

MP3: Wire - One Of Us (from the forthcoming album ‘Object 47′ released on 7th July)

Wire are arguably the most important British band to come out of the punk and post-punk explosion. More inquisitive than The Sex Pistols, poppier than The Au Pairs, more experimental than Gang Of Four, the art school foursome also had the talent to constantly change and evolve their sound. From 1977’s ‘Pink Flag’ through to 2007’s ‘Read And Burn 03′ EP, every release offers something different to the listener. With a new album, ‘Object 47′, released later this year, the band aren’t on some nostalgia/revival trip; this is important music pushing 21st century boundaries in the same way the band changed music so radically in the 1970’s. For a full history, with rare live videos, read on…