Festival Express
by Bob Smeaton
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Buddy Guy, Janis Joplin & The Full Tilt Boogie Band, Janis Joplin, The Band, The Grateful DeadDirector: Bob Smeaton
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled)
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Compilation, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-11-02
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: New Line Home Video
Movie Reviews of Festival Express
Movie Review: A perfect "snapshot" of Rock's Golden Era
Summary: 5 Stars
Oh, how I wish I had been able to "Ride that train"... First off, the music aspect of the film is worth twice the price of the DVD alone. To see and feel Janis in her final days is beyond epic. I originally saw this in the Boulder Theater at a pre-release screening, and after both her performances the audience was literally speechless and silent for a few seconds before someone simply said what we were all thinking; "Wow." From the Dead to Buddy Guy, and the Band to ShaNaNa, it is a completely phenomenal musical experience.
However, the candid and often hysterical footage from the actual "trip" itself is by far the greatest part of the film. Imagine some of America's greatest musicians living a week in a Canadian fantasy world. Excess, genius, and hilarity all rolling down the tracks. Rick Danko, Janis, and Jerry singing in an drunken, acid soaked haze is probably one of the funniest rock and roll moments ever captured on film. (You know when janis Joplin asks, "How are you doing man?" to Rick, the world is definitely turning upside-down.)
Buy this, you won't regret it.
Summary of Festival Express
The vintage concert footage alone makes Festival Express a memorable and worthwhile endeavor, offering scintillating performances by Janis Joplin, the Band (their rollicking version of "Slippin' and Slidin'" is particularly mind-blowing), the Grateful Dead, Buddy Guy, and others (remember Mashmakhan?). In 1970, during the heyday of the rock festival, promoter Ken Walker decided to organize a traveling musical revue, bringing the mountain to Mohammed, as it were. In five days' time, the festival played in three Canadian cities with the entire conglomeration traveling, playing, and getting smashed together the whole way. Nearly as rewarding as the live performances are the candid scenes of the train ride itself, an endless jam session and party during which musicians of all shapes and sizes let their hair down--musically and otherwise. The contemporary interviews with Walker and some of the surviving musicians aren't particularly noteworthy, except as a way to prove that it all actually happened. Walker comes off as a hero in the film: he treated the musicians like royalty and insisted that the train roll on even though he was losing his shirt. (His financial failure is a large reason why this material stayed in the vaults for so long.) Perhaps the most remarkable scene is an off-the-cuff, LSD-fueled train jam featuring Joplin, the Band's Rick Danko, and the Dead's Jerry Garcia playing the old chestnut "Ain't No More Cane." Danko is so obliterated that even Janis has to ask him if he's OK--when Janis is worried about your state of mind, you must be pretty messed up. --Marc GreilsamerFestival Express is a rousing record of a little-known but monumental moment in rock n' roll history starring such music legends as Janis Joplin The Band and the Grateful Dead. Set in 1970 Festival Express was a multi-band multi-day extravaganza that captured the spirit and imagination of a generation and a nation. What made it unique was that it was portable; for five days the bands and performers lived slept rehearsed and did countless unmentionable things aboard a customized train that traveled from Toronto to Calgary to Winnipeg with each stop culminating in a mega-concert. The entire experience both off-stage and on was filmed but the extensive footage remained locked away -- until now.A momentous achievement in rock film archeology Festival Express combines this long-lost material with contemporary interviews nearly 35 years after it was first filmed.Running Time: 89 min. Genre: MUSIC DVD/CONCERTS UPC: 794043757327 Manufacturer No: N7573
Music Video & Concerts DVD Video
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