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Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: DVD Brand: Warner Brothers EAN: 9780780649231 Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Compilation, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC ISBN: 0780649230 Item Dimensions: Label: New Line Home Video Languages: Manufacturer: New Line Home Video MPN: N7573 Number Of Items: 2 Publisher: New Line Home Video Region Code: 1 Release Date: November 02, 2004 Running Time: 90 minutes Studio: New Line Home Video Theatrical Release Date: November 02, 2004 Editorial Review: Product 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.Running Time: 89 min. Genre: MUSIC DVD/CONCERTS UPC: 794043757327 Manufacturer No: N7573 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 Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Makes you wish you'd been on that train!God, what a party! Great music from some unique performers. The Band: Truly soulful rocking, featuring the greatest unsung Soul-singer ever, Richard Manuel. Janis Joplin: Enjoying herself and (as usual) pouring everything into her performance. Grateful Dead: Melodic and relaxed, with Garcia stretching out and embracing his audience and fellow performers. Buddy Guy: Rocking out with a glorious 'Money' And the jamming on the train: Danko ... Read More Rating:  - Great gift for the sixties generationFestival Express is a blast from the past - the sixties and seventies generation will not believe how young and thin they once were. A very good birthday present. Rating: - Good Times!This is a good way to get a glimpse of what life on the road was like 'back in the day'. This tour wouldn't/couldn't happen today. Despite some logistical problems, and misguided college kids who don't quite think it all the way through there was probably never a better overall time than this train trip across Canada. Well worth watching! Steve Urbauer Rating: - A perfect "snapshot" of Rock's Golden EraOh, 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 ... Read More Rating: - Exciting Lost performance footage The summer of 1970 - one of my best - definitely for *music*. Here we have some of the biggest icons of that period, up close and personal. Maybe a little too personal, as we watch many musical genuises, and apparently very decent decent, use legal and illegal substances well beyond necessity, and make us realize that none of 'em were role models outside of the instruments, the lights, the imagery. The film includes poignant reminders of the downside of the Summer of '67 meets Woodstock era: alot of wild ... Read More |
