Thursday night, industrial rock icons Nine Inch Nails revealed their new bassist during the latest part of their Peel It Back tour. Playing at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans to ring in the Winter 2026 North American leg of the tour, Stu Brooks was revealed to be the band’s new touring bassist. As Consequence reports, Brooks spoke with Bass Magazine for an interview before hitting the stage. “I’m feeling excited!” Brooks shared, “It’s such a huge honor to play with these musicians and have this opportunity.”
Brooks takes over for Alessandro Conti, who had played with the band from 2005 to 2008, later returning in 2013. No reason was currently given for Conti’s second departure. Brooks has had previous experience playing alongside Danny Elfman, Matisyahu, Dominic Fike and others. Brooks’ arrival was far from the only surprise, however, as this set in the highly acclaimed tour series contained some surprises in its’ 21-song list. Most notably were the first playing of “Something I Can Never Have” in the tour series, a song off the band’s debut Pretty Hate Machine; as well as the first live performance of the rare “Non-Entity” since 2009, breaking a 17 year long hiatus. The list also comprised many classic songs that made up previous tours, such as the popular tracks “Wish” and the ever-iconic “Hurt” as a closer.
The Winter leg of the Peel It Back tour will last until March 16th, ending with a show in Sacramento, California. The band is also set to perform two sets at Coachella in April, where they will be joined by previous collaborator and opener for Peel It Back, electronic musician Boys Noize, and will be performing as a collaborative project under the name Nine Inch Noize.
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