It has been just over 3 years since the last full UK tour for Ho99o9, with only a showing and Blondies in October as well as a legendary showing at 2023’s Glastonbury to tide us over in the meantime. Full UK runs aside, there is something about Ho99o9 in a room like the Brudenell Social Club. The Leeds venue has always thrived on punk, hardcore and experimental rap shows, such as Ho99o9 collaborator Greg Puciato doing his best with Better Lovers to raise the place to the ground. 2026 marks the 5th time they have played the iconic venue despite their rapidly growing presence here. The Brudenell always has a sense of theatre-esque visual given how all points are faces toward the stage like a cone, and for a huge backdrop brandished with Ho99o9’s logo to be at the centre of that spectacle, it just feels right.
N8NOFACE
Opening honours on this night fall on N8NOFACE and his bombastic one man show. The headliners have expressed massive adoration for N8 ahead of the tour, but his sincerity alone with the Leeds crowd would have won them over. There’s a steady movement and sense of life throughout the entirety of N8’s set, and it takes a lot of forms. The support yo-yo’s between shadow boxing amidst heavy synth, bouncing around A-posed as though his joints are full of helium, and then being hunched over his keys in anguish. By his own admission, he’s a 50 year old man, very (very) far from home, and gets to show his soul to hundreds of people every night, and that’s beautiful.
Ho99o9
Now headliners Ho99o9 show beauty in a much different way. theOGM initially takes to the stage alone on intro ‘I Miss Home’ in one of the final few serene moments Brudenell had left as the crowd and theOGM are literally within arms reach of one another. They’re soon joined on stage by vocalist “Eaddy” Yeti Bones and on this occasion by live drummer, the legendary Thomas Pridgen of Trash Talk/Fever 333 who helps them kick into gear with ‘Escape’. The opening quarter is understandably comprised entirely of the incredible new album, with ‘Target Practice’, ‘OK, I’m Reloaded’, ‘Psychic Jumper’ & finally ‘Upside Down’ all following in short order. Yeti stands already soaking wet in a British flag long-sleeve, and the Leeds crowd goes rabid as ‘Sub-Zer0’ is played for the first time in this room since 2018. The material from United States of Horror continued with ‘Street Power’ and ‘City Rejects’, before a huge personal callback to their tour with The Dillinger Escape Plan in 2017, with ‘The Dope Dealerz’.
There are calls from the crowd between songs for what Ho99o9 should play next, and even a request for N8NOFACE to join them on stage, but theOGM politely directs their attention to their prepared remarks in the shape of 2024’s ‘Off The Meter’ and the incendiary ‘LA Riots’ from the latest record, with ‘Knuckle Up’ being the final bit of flammable tinder for the pit before the trio on stage turn away for an interlude.
The final stretch felt especially unhinged as ‘BITE MY FACE’ kicks us off (Sans Corey Taylor of course) into an oddly pantomimic playing of ‘Mister Sandman’ over the PA. There is a final flurry for the ages, beginning with 2022’s ‘PROTECT MY BITCH PT 2’ where ironic to the title, a fan does climb on stage and approach Yeti as he stands ceiling high on Thomas Pridgen’s bass drum. Yeti remains cool and practically leads the fan by the hand off stage and into the pit, with the vocalist himself joining the crowd on the floor. After inciting some energy in the middle, it blurs into ‘A Machine Of’ before the closing calamity of ‘Godflesh’ where they inspire the crowd to get low, before throwing themselves back up as theOGM and Pridgen play out the remainder of the song on stage, before the three musicians bow and wave, and depart.
Gigs like this are why Brudenell and venues of its kind are special. Within minutes, Yeti is back out on stage to shake hands and swap stories with those remaining fans and N8NOFACE is at merch, chatting to fans, Thomas Pridgen is getting a drink at the bar. It’s a beautiful space that brings people face to face. This band could likely have played a venue twice the size, but Brudenell remains the only venue they’ll play in this good city. Ho99o9 continue to come back here as they are allowed to push everything right to the edge of that stage.
