Originally released as part of
The Dark Side of the Moon
50th Anniversary box set -- and first officially released as part of the 2011 Immersion and Experience reissues but originally bootlegged long before that --
The Dark Side of the Moon: Live at Wembley 1974
features
Pink Floyd
performing the entirety of their then-recent album
during a tour stop at Empire Pool, the venue that would later be renamed Wembley Arena.
Dark Side
was
Floyd
's focus at this November 1974 gig, but it wasn't all they played. The first set in the show consisted of the band playing an early version of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond," plus "Raving and Drooling" and "You Gotta Be Crazy," songs that later became "Sheep" and "Dogs" on
Animals
, while "Echoes" provided the encore. None of this material is here, of course: the first set is on the Immersion and Experience editions of
Wish You Were Here
from 2011, while "Echoes" is on the 2016 box set
The Early Years: 1965-1972
, which leaves this 2023 LP as a smooth, streamlined live version of an album that can sometimes seem entirely a studio creation. Here, it's clear that
figured out the furthest reaches of
as a collective and it's exciting to hear them play this material when it was still new; they sound as if they're still enjoying the exploration. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine