As he explained in an interview with the Associated Press and later in a letter to his followers, Bunbury always positions the agony he’s dragged inside him for years when he’s on tour, and this has caused him to announce his goodbyes. It was staged at concerts a year ago using an organic compound, propylene glycol. This is where the “compulsive night cough” and choking feeling “like sand in the lungs” come from, She says. A product that he explicitly described as “toxic” in his letter.
Applied to a water floor in a machine, this type of propylene glycol emits a vapor that plays a secret as well as important role in concerts. Its floating presence makes it possible for the lights to be effective and produce the beam that surrounds the artist. about “an artificial fog to give volume to the lighting, because without it you could only see the point of the light, not the drawing, the line”, I was portrayed by Roger Puiggener, an expert who is a seasoned technician in all sorts of shows.
To qualify the approved commercial product as toxic, as Bunbury did, its basis is a thick accusation that is vague: if it did, accusations against artists (and assistants) would have rained down for years, because propylene glycol has been widely used in ‘shows’ all over the world and for decades. And it is used for other purposes such as air conditioning. Another thing is that the singer may have developed a certain intolerance, and therefore the substance is especially harmful to him.
But the question is: Are concertinas possible without propylene glycol? Illuminator technicians definitely say yes. Puiggener cites two artists who were reluctant to combine: Van Morrison and the deceased Joe Cocker. And when the author of ‘Gloria’ performed at Poble Espanyol in 1997, the technical indicators could be read, highlighted: “please, remember, no artificial fog” (“no artificial fog”). His show ran smoothly, just with a different lighting criterion.
From this article, one can only cast doubt on Bunbury’s honesty in pointing out the reasons (at 54 years old and with a lively and joyful record release) of such a painful decision to leave the stage. But the singer, who had a specific curriculum of pre-concert blackout episodes for years, states in her letter: the “traumatic experience” of all these, and it’s easy to ask yourself if it was this experience that changed the bond with his profession. Only he will know, or maybe he won’t.