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Festival Express | 
 enlarge | Directors: Bob Smeaton, Frank Cvitanovich
Actors: Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, The Band, Rick Danko, Levon Helm
Studio: New Line Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
Buy New: $13.99
You Save: $5.99 (30%)
Rating:  99 reviews
Format: Ac-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Compilation, Dolby, Dts Surround Sound, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number Of Discs: 2
Running Time: 90 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: TRNDN7573D
ISBN: 0780649230
UPC: 794043757327
EAN: 9780780649231
ASIN: B000305ZDO
Theatrical Release Date: November 2, 2004
Release Date: November 2, 2004
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 09/27/2005 Run time: 89 minutes
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
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| Customer Reviews: Read 94 more reviews...
 THIS IS AMAZING & YOU MUST OWN IT. November 20, 2008
S. DeStefano (Brooklyn, New York United States)
This dvd is incredible. Any fan of psychedelic/classic rock owes it to themselves to watch this over and over again. Janis Joplin performs the greatest rendition of "Cry Baby" EVER and it was filmed only 3 short months before her untimely and tragic death. There is a great sampling of music represented here, amazing footage of jam sessions (drunk ones!) and amazing crowd shots showing fabulous 70s fashion. I want to live in this freaking movie. Get stoned and watch it. xoxo.
Cool documentary! November 20, 2008
Cookie (Seattle)
This was a really fun ride and brought back a lot of nostalgia! Think of it as a booze-fueled Woodstock on a train!
Festival Express November 16, 2008
C. Taylor
I greatly enjoyed the ability to board that long departed train...and to view the artists having the time of their lives. The jams, both on the train and onstage were outstanding. Priceless!
 A Singularly Unique Rock n'Roll Experience November 14, 2008
R. L. Rheubottom (Canada)
I live in Winnipeg and unfortunately missed FESTIVAL EXPRESS when it rolled through back in 1970. I opted instead to go to Winnipeg's other huge ticket that summer - Manpop - which featured Led Zeppelin, Iron Butterfly and the Youngbloods as headliners. I've always remembered Festival Express as a golden opportunity missed - but being only sixteen years old with limited funds - I was forced to live with the consequences of a tough choice.
Seeing the film "Festival Express" isn't quite like being there in person, but it's the next best thing! For young folks who weren't even born in 1970, it's a chance to see Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, the Band, the Fly Burrito Bros, Buddy Guy, Ian & Sylvia, et al... in their prime and find out what the buzz was all about. Janis and Jerry Garcia are in particularly great voice. Janis gives a gut wrenchingly poignant performance, particularly during "Cry Baby". I'm not sure what brought the tears to my eyes, her greatness or the knowledge that she would leave us just a few short months after that performance (followed later by the tragic death's of the Dead's drummer "Pigpen" & guitarist/singer Jerry Garcia and the Band's piano player Richard Manuel & bassist Rick Danko)
The concert footage of Janis and the Dead alone justify the film's admission price. My biggest gripe was that there should have been far more concert footage included. However, a local newspaper writeup mentioned that much of the concert footage was non-usable (bad sound, out of focus cameras, sound/no pix, pix/no sound....). It was so bad apparently - the fact that anything remotely resembling a cohesive film was wrought from the mounds of botched footage was nothing short of minor miracle! Don't get me wrong - the behind the scenes footage of the band partying and jamming stand on their own merit. Jerry Garcia pops up jamming on stage and off with everyone from Ian & Sylvia and the Great Speckled Bird (on stage in Calgary) to the Band's Rick Danko (on the train along with Janis - quite schwacked - hilarious!) Shots of protesters bitching about "the pigs" and high admissions prices (Fourteen dollars - how outrageous!)are also good for a chuckle and help capture the flavour of the period.
"Festival Express'" split screen camera techniques, the documentary style narrative and band lineups are bound to invite comparisons to the movie "Woodstock." I believe the camera techniques and documentary style are intended to help recapture the time period and mood rather than to ripoff "Woodstock." Further, neither Janis', the Dead's nor the Band's Woodstock performances made it into the original "Woodstock" movie. The experience of trucking a load of monstrously talented - notoriously hard partying rock n'rollers across Canada in a train with a well stocked bar, guitar amps, and a drum kit while the cameras rolled is singularly unique in the annals of rock n'roll - so is this film! Check it out!!
Rob Rheubottom
Winnipeg, MB Canada
Don't Pass This One Up! October 9, 2008
Indello
If you're 50ish and a fan of classic rock-and-roll, this DVD is a sure bet. It's grainy but sharp and the sound is top notch. Great concert camera work and beautiful color for a 1970 road show. The scenes on the train provide some very insightful looks of what band life on the road was like back then.
I just played it on my 20" computer monitor with stereo sound and it has overwhelmed me. I have no doubts it will play beautifully on my 70" home theater and the DTS 5.1 surround sound will be heavenly. If you are Canadian, like me, it's an added bonus to see some shots of Toronto, Winnipeg and Calgary in the background.
Janis Joplin is in true form and sings some of her best. It's one of the main reasons I bought this and I'm not disappointed.
Don't cheat yourself out of a memorable DVD....you'll be playing this one more than once!
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