I had meant to blog about this last year, but I was busy focusing on finishing my New Year's Resolutions. I'm sorry for the delay. I got to attend Prozzäk's final last ever show.
Just to note: Throughout the blog (except for a few times) I will be calling Jay Levine and James McCollum as their cartoon counterparts, Simon and Milo. This is to avoid any possible confusion of who I am talking about!
A close-up of the stage.
I'm so excited! XD
Just so you know... the left head with blue hair is Simon and
the right head with blonde hair is Milo.
Me and Prozzäk
I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this in an earlier blog, but I'll say it again here.
I have been a fan of Prozzäk for many, many years... but I wasn't a fan in the beginning. Their first three popular songs, "Omobolasire", "Sucks To Be You", "Strange Disease", didn't catch me in any way. They weren't bad -- they just didn't do anything for me.
Then, one day in the year 2000 (wow... 20 years ago), I was at a Tower Records in Toronto. I was planning to buy a CD (back when buying CDs or listening to the radio were the only legit methods of accessing music).
I was thinking of buying Britney Spear's second album Oops!... I Did It Again, and I saw that the whole album was available to sample. I put on the headphones and listened to little bits of each song. The bits were decent enough. At the same sample station, Prozzäk's Hot Show was available. Despite knowing that I didn't care for at least three of the songs (the songs I mentioned above), I thought 'Why not?', and switched albums.
First track I sampled was "Europa". Immediately the guitar and lyrics drew me in. The music was upbeat while the lyrics were full of melancholy. I felt like I was off in another world, amused and delighted by the juxtaposition of cheer and sadness. I tried out a few other tracks and ended up buying the album that same day.
To me, Prozzäk's upbeat, sad music style was completely new and refreshing. I had never listened to anything quite like it before. For the songs I especially liked, the lyrics really spoke to me. I often found them relatable, or capable of pulling my heartstrings. "Anna-Lisa" and "Sleep With Myself" were my favourites.
I really enjoyed the concept of Prozzäk: that Simon and Milo existed while their human counterparts (Jay Levine and James McCollum) searched for true love. I thought it was sweet in a sad way. Sweet in that more music would be created, but sad that the continued existence of Simon and Milo meant that Jay and James had not found their true love.
When their second album Saturday People released, I bought it right away. The music style was the same, and I found some tracks I connected with right away ("www.nevergetoveryou", "Be As", and "Monday Morning"). I'd like to think that if I hadn't tried out Prozzäk's "Hot Show" on a whim at Tower Records, I would have been drawn in by "Be As". That song -- it was way too relatable for me.
About five years later, I was in a music shop with my sister. For fun, I decided to check if Prozzäk had any new CDs. To my surprise, there was! Cruel Cruel World... The album was decently priced so I bought it right then, without knowing how any of the tracks sounded. I also thought, 'Why wasn't there any advertisements or announcements on their website? Why do Simon and Milo look so sad and different? Are they okay...?'
Cruel Cruel World had the same catchy style as the other albums, but it also sounded different. There was this... bleak complexity and maturity to the songs. And of course, songs that really spoke to me. My favourites were "Just Friends", "Clothes We Wear", and "Cruel Cruel World". The lyrics for "Clothes We Wear" felt very unique and was something I thought about many times.
To this day, I still listen to Prozzäk fairly frequently. The songs I related to back in the day, I still relate to them now. Maybe... I still relate to them because I have not yet found my true love, hahaha... ^^'
The Little Details
Date of Concert: November 30, 2019
Venue: The Danforth Music Hall (Toronto, Ontario)
Time: 8:00 PM (Doors open 6:40 PM)
Ticket Price Total: $49
Seating: Section Balc1 (balcony), Row MM, Seat 13
6:40-ish PM -- Doors Open
I was glad the doors opened early -- waiting in line outside in the cold, cold November weather could have been very uncomfortable... and cold.
As usual, I promptly lined up at the merchandise table. I knew I wanted to get something to commemorate attending their final show. From what I could remember, the merch. table was selling T-shirts, long sleeve shirts, hoodies, baseball caps, and pins.
After buying a few items, I went to my seat and waited for the pre-show. This was my first time attending a venue where the entire first floor was a dance floor.
View of the stage from my seat.
8:00-ish PM -- Pre-show (Chippy Nonstop)
Well... I'll be frank. The pre-show music seemed like an electronic mashup of 80's / 90's tunes, and I'm pretty sure it did its job of getting attendees on the dance floor to dance. For me, though, I only lasted for about 15 minutes before it got on my nerves. For the first time, I thought about skipping the pre-show.
I was hoping the pre-show would last for 30 minutes, as was usually the case for pre-shows. Sadly for me, this one lasted about an hour! ;____;
I don't mean to be so mean. It just wasn't my cup of tea.
9:00-ish PM -- Intermission
Nothing happened here, aside from me going to the washroom, and then going back to my seat and playing apps on my phone.
9:30-ish PM -- Prozzäk
The lights went down and a video clip played on the screen above the stage. It was a video showing how Simon and Milo met. Many cheered. I smiled quietly. I've seen the clip many times before, back when I watched it on a VHS copy of Simon and Milo's
Hot Show (I still have the VHS! But no VCR...).
This concert was very much a wave of nostalgia. Throughout many of the tracks, I kept my quiet smile, giddy at hearing such catchy, old tunes. I cheered especially hard when "Pretty Girls", "www.nevergetoveryou", and "Be As" were performed (my favourite of all the tracks in the setlist -- the setlist is further below).
There were several moments that encouraged audience participation, which I thought was really nice and fun. "Tsunami"'s music video was presented in karaoke format, with lyrics shown on the screen. Some phrases for "Sucks To Be You" were split out between the male and female audience, with the females saying "Sucks to be you" and the males saying "I know I know". When "Be As" came on, Simon encouraged anybody who wanted to sing to sing along, even though the music video didn't show the lyrics. I sang along. :)
There was one thing that surprised me about this concert: I heard songs I had never heard of before! I thought I had heard all of Prozz
äk's songs, with
Cruel Cruel World being their last album. I found out after the concert that they had actually released an album after
Cruel Cruel World!
Of the new tracks I heard, I especially enjoyed "All of the Feels", but I did not enjoy "If We Were in the Jungle". The music video for "If We Were in the Jungle" was so bizarre. It featured fruits in slightly sexually suggestive... imagery. A couple examples would be slowly peeling a banana, and dropping a strawberry into the center of a cantaloupe that was cut in half.
A short clip of "Love Me Tinder", a song I never heard before.
You might need to click "play" twice to play it.
"New York". I liked how Simon, Milo, and the girl (forgot her name)
were all sitting together like that.
A clip of "Sucks To Be You", the last song.
After "Sucks To Be You" ended, Simon and Milo thanked everybody for coming out and that they would be at the merch. table for a meet & greet.
The show ended around 10:35 PM.
I wanted to attend the meet & greet, but I didn't want to stay out past 11 PM... ;____;
The show is over... ;__;
Setlist
Here is the full setlist for Prozz
äk. Sadly, nothing from the
Cruel Cruel World album was performed. As I mentioned earlier, "Pretty Girls", "www.nevergetoveryou", and "Be As" were my favourites from this list.
-Strange Disease
-Omobolasire
-Tsunami
-Love Me Tinder
-Can't Lick This Love Thing
-Feed the Night
-Hot
-I Like To Watch (Milo's Night Out)
-All of the Feels
-New York
-If We Were in the Jungle
-Saturday People
-Love Fools Anonymous
-Pretty Girls
-www.nevergetoveryou
-Be As
-Sucks To Be You
Overall Experience
Aside from the pre-show, the concert was nice and nostalgic. I personally would have liked to hear more of the slower tunes like "Anna-Lisa", "Clothes We Wear", and "Cruel Cruel World". But I understood that they likely chose upbeat tracks to keep the audience engaged and dancing.
I was glad to finally see Simon and Milo live in a concert. They were a band that was near and dear to my childhood heart.
I have since listened to Prozzäk's latest album, Forever 1999. Many of the tracks were just okay, but "Adaptation" was amazing. That song just draws out tears like it's nobody's business!
Simon -- Milo -- Jay -- James. Thank you for delighting my ears with your music! If it hasn't happened yet, I hope you will find your true love soon! <3
Items I bought from the merchandise table.
Tour T-shirts: 2 for $50
Pins: $10
Total spent: $60
I personally like the Hot Show design more.
A close-up of the pins. I'm not all that sure what
I will do with the extra pin.
Thank you so much for reading! :)
Next week's blog might be short since it'll be Lunar New Year. Finally -- the year of the Rat!
Take care and until next time! :)
