Simon, a skinny character with jet-black hair, and Milo, a muscular blond character, appeared on a screen in front of hundreds of fans. To some people this would seem as a preview for the night to come but for Prozzäk fans, these are the characters they’ve loved for years.
From the cargo pants to the track pants, the bootleg jeans to the all-denim outfits, March 30 at the Algonquin Commons Theatre was a flashback to the ’90s.
Canadian animated pop duo Prozzäk return to the stage with their tour, Forever 1999. The seats were only empty because everyone was on their feet for the entirety of the show, hits such as Sucks to Be You, www.nevergetoveryou, and Europa had fans reminiscing on their younger days.
Elisa MacArthur was one of them.
“I first heard Prozzäk in the early 2000s and I simply fell in love with their music and the message that it brings,” said the Prozzäk fan. “Even after all these years of them not making music, I still had their songs in my playlist. When I found out they were going on tour after such an extended break I was literally almost speechless.”
The album and tour are bringing it back to the late ‘90s when Prozzäk found themselves at the peak of Internet culture. The ‘90s chart topping duo of Simon and Milo continue to follow their roots of hopeless-romantic, love-searching songs.
The first song released off of Forever 1999, Love Me Tinder, shows that Prozzäk is adapting their music to the new modern techniques of finding true love.
“Love Me Tinder is a comedic yet accurate take on how the dating culture is nowadays,” said MacArthur. “Simon has always been looking for love and I appreciate Prozzäk as artists for incorporating modern reality with their new music.”
Prozzäk, consisting of Jay Levine (Simon) and James Bryan McCollum (Milo) stayed true to their long serving fan base by holding a meet and greet immediately after the show.
“They haven’t aged a bit,” laughed MacArthur. “I think it’s the lack of Prozzäk music these past few years that’s aging me. Hopefully this new album and tour will be my fountain of youth.”
For most fans they hope the show at Algonquin College is simply a stepping-stone on what’s yet to come, most believe they still have what it takes to appeal to a large audience.
“I saw them when they were at the peak of their career, when they were getting nominated for Juno’s and such,“ said longtime Prozzäk follower Kyle Timmins. “The show that they played today just puts it in perspective on how talented Jay and James are as artists and performers. Obviously for me I’d like to see them grow and be successful nowadays because they truly are great, down to earth guys that deserve the spotlight.”