Festival Express (Dts) (2004)

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.
 


Editor's Note

In the summer of 1970, a rock festival travelled across Canada by luxury train, stopping in Toronto, Calgary, and Winnipeg. Lured by the promise of a mobile party, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, The Band, Buddy Guy, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and Ian & Sylvia signed on to the tour for a fraction of their usual fees. The performances and the stars' antics on the train were both filmed, only to be locked away for 25 years. The colorful and thrilling results, seen here for the first time, capture these artists at their loosest and most natural. Fans of Joplin and the Dead will find reason to rejoice in the playful footage of these icons enjoying each other's company on the train, as well as their blistering stage performances. The events are also put into context through new interviews with the surviving musicians, including Buddy Guy, the Grateful Dead's Bob Weir, and Mickey Hart, who speak frankly and humorously about the tour. Once buried in reputation by the era's other historic concert events such as Woodstock, or the Rolling Stones at Altamont--FESTIVAL EXPRESS is proof that a monumental live event in '60s rock has been long overlooked.