What the '1973 Live at the Rainbow' Bootleg Reveals About 'Dark Side of the Moon' – Especially That 'Money' Sax Solo

The February 1973 shows at the Rainbow Theatre in London are legendary because Pink Floyd played The Dark Side of the Moon in full before the album had even hit the shelves. The common bootleg (often called Live at the Rainbow) captures that raw, pre-polished version, and the differences are fascinating – especially on “Money.” The album’s saxophone solo, played by Dick Parry, is a clean, arranged studio take; live at the Rainbow, Parry still plays it, but the solo feels looser and more exploratory, stretching out with a rawer tone that edges into jazzier territory. You can hear the band locking in a little less tightly, which gives the whole performance a nervy energy that the finished record sanded down.

Beyond the sax, the whole suite sounds rougher in the best way. The vocals are less processed, the spoken-word snippets are missing or still being figured out, and the transitions between songs aren’t as seamless. It’s the blueprint of something that would become surgically precise months later. For any fan who’s only heard the studio version, this bootleg is like peeking at the first draft of a masterpiece – messy, alive, and full of choices that got changed or tightened before the final cut.