Festival Express

Starring:Janis Joplin, Janis Joplin & The Full Tilt Boogie Band, The Grateful Dead, The Band, Buddy Guy, Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, The Flying Burrito Bros, Ian & Sylvia & The Great Speckled Bird, Mashmakhan, Buddy Guy Blues Band, Lennie Baker, Jerry Garcia, Jon 'Bowzer' Bauman, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Frederick 'Dennis' Greene, Mickey Hart, Rick Danko, Jocko Marcellino, Ken Pearson
Director: Bob Smeaton
Studio: New Line Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
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 Greilsamer
Description
Festival 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.

DVD Features:
DVD ROM Features
Theatrical Trailer

Average customer rating:

Wave That Flag
Would be worth the price of admission only for Joplin's performing of Tell Your Mama...
I wish I was there.
Festival Express is a rocking good time
Festival Express

Festival Express
Starring: Janis Joplin , The Grateful Dead , Janis Joplin & The Full Tilt Boogie Band , The Band , and Buddy Guy
Director: Bob Smeaton
Manufacturer: New Line Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Music Video & Concerts | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $9.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( F ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

The Last Waltz
Woodstock - 3 Days of Peace & Music (The Director's Cut)
The Grateful Dead Movie
Fly Jefferson Airplane
The Complete Monterey Pop Festival - Criterion Collection

ASIN: B000305ZDO
Release Date: 2004-11-02

Amazon.com

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 Greilsamer

Description

Festival 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.

DVD Features:
DVD ROM Features
Theatrical Trailer

Customer Reviews:

Wave That Flag.......2007-07-03

The Fourth of July always puts me in the mood for a little Grateful Dead. To me they are the quintessential American band. It certainly fits musically, with their music drawing from the blues, country, bluegrass, and gospel, in addition to other streams of Americana. But, even more so, their collective personality was classic American, in lots of positive ways and plenty of negative ones too. They were fun, energetic, creative, exploratory, and generous, yet hypocritical, arrogant, fat, lazy, and ultimately self-indulgent to the point of self-destruction. They were dreamy idealists while at the same time the most crass of capitalists. And just in case the connection was too subtle for the heads, the Avuncular Jerry Garcia would croon it out on "U.S. Blues:" "I'm Uncle Sam,/ That's who I am/ Been hidin' out/ In a rock n' roll band."

You aren't going to catch a Dead show anymore, at least not the real deal, but Festival Express is a nice little treat to catch a little bit of contact vibe. I hadn't heard about this until recently, but apparently there was a traveling festival in 1970 including the Grateful Dead, Buddy Guy, Janis Joplin, and the Band. The concert footage is worth watching but even more amazing are the scenes from the train, traveling from town to town, with musicians completely inebriated and jamming non-stop in various combinations. It's worth it just to see a relatively young Jerry Garcia and a relatively old Janis Joplin sitting intimately and just making music. The movie also comes with a villain- though he is packaged as the hero- rock promoter Ken Walker. Hunched over, wringing his hands like Mike Myers playing Dr. Evil, and even with an old-fashioned handlebar mustache just to complete the malevolent ambience. He tells us over and over again how he saved the day in various venues. Threatening anyone in his path, punching out some Canadian mayor in the face, brandishing a gun to make his point, that kind of thing. He takes great pride in what we come to learn was a gigantic failure, but the movie would be less entertaining without this character.

Anyway, it is fun ride, you'll wish you could have been there. I recommend it as part of your Fourth of July festivities. Never mind that the entire film takes place in Canada. Some of the best of America is actually Canadian. This is nothing new, don't over-think it. It's just a good time.

Would be worth the price of admission only for Joplin's performing of Tell Your Mama..........2007-06-15

...which blows everything else out of the water (probably even including most of the numbers from the Woodstock film!): breathtaking, galloping, electrifying, moving, tight... words that barely convey the musical experience! ...And I was not even a fan before watching and hearing this number!!

I cannot really add anything much to the other positive reviews, which are more knowledgegable than mine in film making and rock music history, but to join in in the praise of this experience, one of the very best rock documentaries I ever saw... Beautifully shot... Beautifully mixed (Eddie Kramer!)... Edits of interviews NOT intruding with the stage performances... If you enjoy early 70s country- and blues-rock and also documentaries on important pieces of history in the making, just ignore the idiotic, irrelevant box front graphics (well, save maybe that this IS a double DVD set...), and hurry up to catch the "Festival Express"!

I wish I was there........2007-05-13

This is one of the most intertaining music DVDs I've got. If you like any of the artist appearing on the DVD buy it.

Festival Express is a rocking good time.......2007-04-26

I, for one, am very glad that some documentarians decided to take this decades-old footage off the shelves and cut it together. Festival Express takes the viewer on the train ride of a lifetime with Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, The Band, Buddy Guy, and many other musical acts that I am not as familiar with because I was born in 1983...

Anyway, the behind the scenes footage of these great musicians partying and making music together for a week as they ride across Canada and stop in various places to put on concerts is amazing, as is the concert footage itself.

The real story on display here is the difference between what the public saw as a catastrophic monetary failure, and what the artists saw as one of the greatest tours of their lives. Protesters in each city the tour stopped at were demanding to be let in for free, which slowed ticket sales and made the tour a huge money loss for the producers. But instead of throwing in the towell, they decided to keep the train going and see the thing through. Almost 40 years later, I'm glad they did.

The extensive extras include live coverage of many more performances not included in the actual film. This DVD is gold if you like any of these performances, and really even if you've never heard of them.

Festival Express.......2007-04-11

I haven't played both DVD's. I thought I was ordering a CD of the music only. It wasn't what I wanted.

DVD:

DVD

DVD

DVD

Life According to Muriel

Fame Academy

Gone, But Not Forgotten (REGION 1) (NTSC)

DVD: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

Minder - Series 2 - Part 4 Of 4 - Episodes 10 - 13