Festival Express

Infobox Film
name = Festival Express


caption = The movie poster
director = Bob Smeaton & Frank Cvitanovic
producer = Gavin Poolman
John Trapman
eproducer = Willem Poolman
Ann Carli
aproducer = Nick Faulks
starring = Janis Joplin
Grateful Dead
The Band
Buddy Guy
music producer = Eddie Kramer
cinematography = Peter Biziou
Bob Fiore
editor = Eamonn Power
distributor = Apollo Films
PeachTree Films
released = Toronto Film Festival:
September 9, 2003
United States
July 23, 2004
Canada:
July 30, 2004 (limited)
United Kingdom:
September 3, 2004
runtime = 90 min.
country = UK/Netherlands
awards =
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
amg_id = 1:291860
imdb_id = 0372279

Festival Express is a 2003 rockumentary film about the legendary 1970 train tour across Canada taken by some of the world's biggest rock bands, including The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, and The Band. The documentary film combines footage shot during the 1970 concerts, as well as the train ride itself, interspersed with present-day interviews with tour participants sharing their often hilarious recollections of the time.

The film was produced by Gavin Poolman (son of the original 1970 film shoot's producer, Willem Poolman) together with John Trapman, and directed by double Grammy Award-winner Bob Smeaton (The Beatles Anthology), with music produced by Eddie Kramer (Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin), and features original footage shot in 1970 by Academy Award-winning cinematographer Peter Biziou (Mississippi Burning, Pink Floyd: The Wall, The Truman Show). The original 1970 footage was filmed by director Frank Cvitanovich. A DVD release followed the film's theatrical run.

Festival Express was unique among rock festivals - rather than being held in one location, it was staged in several (Toronto, Winnepeg and Calgary). And, rather than flying to each city, many of the musicians traveled by chartered Canadian National Railways train, fostering an atmosphere of musical creativity and closeness between the performers. The trips between cities were a mix of jam sessions and partying. Among the memorable scenes depicted in the film was a drunken jam with The Band's Rick Danko, the Dead's Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir, and Janis Joplin.

By the time the festival started, there was a movement amongst North American youth that rock concerts should be free. As at Woodstock, many kids showed up with no intention of paying the $14 admission. Despite the financial hardship this caused promoters Ken Walker and Thor Eaton, the train continued on, providing a rich environment in which the traveling bands could jam and interact.

In the film, musician Kenny Gradney, who performed with The Flying Burrito Bros, said: "It was better than Woodstock, as great as Woodstock was."

The traveling show highlighted several points in the transitioning effects of music in the post-idealism of the late 60's, as large groups of protesters started riots to get into the shows for free, and the promoters attempted to bring a traveling festival to a host of cities. Even the intervention of various Canadian police forces couldn't reconcile the resulting chaos.

While the promoters took a major hit, the shows were still a fantastic success, featuring now legendary performances by the Grateful Dead, The Band, Janis Joplin, and Buddy Guy. The Dead were just beginning to transform their sound from roots, folk and blues into a more improvised and psychedelic feel; The Band's performance showed them at the very pinnacle of the their powers; and for Joplin, this would turn out to be one of her last recorded performances.

Performers

* Eric Andersen (performs "Thirsty Boots" in DVD bonus footage)
* The Band
* Buddy Guy Blues Band
* Delaney and Bonnie and Friends (does not perform in the film or DVD extras, although Delaney Bramlett sits in with Ian & Sylvia and The Great Speckled Bird during "C.C. Rider")
* The Flying Burrito Brothers
* Grateful Dead
* Ian and Sylvia with Great Speckled Bird
* Janis Joplin who died on 4 October the same year (1970)
* Mashmakhan
* Mountain (does not appear in the film)
* Tom Rush (does not perform in the film, included in DVD extras)
* Traffic (only in Toronto - didn't ride the train and does not appear in the film)
* Ten Years After (only in Toronto - didn't ride the train and does not appear in the film)
* Seatrain (does not perform in the film, included in DVD extras)
* Sha Na Na (didn't ride the train)

ongs

Performed in the film

* "Don't Ease Me In", Grateful Dead
* "Slippin' and Slidin'", The Band
* "Better Take Jesus' Hand" ("Jordan"), solo on the train by Jerry Garcia
* "Comin' Home Baby", Mashmakhan
* "Money (That's What I Want)", Buddy Guy Blues Band
* "Lazy Day", The Flying Burrito Brothers
* "The Weight", The Band
* "Cry Baby", Janis Joplin
* "Ain't No More Cane", jam session on train including Rick Danko, Janis Joplin, Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir
* "Rock & Roll Is Here to Stay", Sha Na Na
* "New Speedway Boogie", Grateful Dead
* "C.C. Rider", Ian and Sylvia and the Great Speckled Bird (with Jerry Garcia and Delaney Bramlett)
* "I Shall Be Released", The Band
* "Tell Mama", Janis Joplin

Additional songs on DVD

* "13 Questions", Seatrain
* "Child's Song", Tom Rush
* "Thirsty Boots", Eric Andersen
* "As Years Go By", Mashmakhan
* "Tears of Rage", Ian and Sylvia and the Great Speckled Bird
* "Hoochie Coochie Man", Buddy Guy Blues Band
* "Hard to Handle", Grateful Dead
* "Easy Wind", Grateful Dead
* "Kozmic Blues", Janis Joplin
* "Move Over", Janis Joplin

Other Festival Express performances

* Filmed performances of "Long Black Veil" and "Rockin' Chair", from July 5, 1970 in Calgary appear on The Band's anthology album, "A Musical History".

Film production

Because the Festival Express tour turned out to be a complete financial disaster, the film project was shelved soon afterwards, as the promoters sued the film-makers, and the footage mysteriously disappeared. Some of the film's reels turned up in the garage of the original producer Willem Poolman, where they had been stored for decades and used at various times as goal posts for ball hockey games played by his son Gavin. The plan to resurrect the film was started in 1999 by executive producer Garth Douglas, who found many more reels in the Canadian National Film Archives vault, where it had been kept in pristine condition and unknown to the world. Garth got in touch with Gavin, who had grown up to become a London-based film producer. Gavin produced the film together with his old high-school friend John Trapman (who had played in some of those ball hockey games), and Bob Smeaton, double Grammy Award-winning director of the "The Beatles Anthology" was brought on board. The music tracks were remastered and produced by Eddie Kramer, Jimi Hendrix's producer, and engineer for Led Zeppelin, Woodstock, and Derek & The Dominoes Live In Concert.

The film's production was financed by London-based Apollo Films together with PeachTree Films from Amsterdam.

Release

Premieres and festivals

"Festival Express" had its world premiere at the 2003 Toronto International Film Festival. Other festival releases included the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Bermuda Film Festival, London Film Festival, Miami Film Festival, Wisconsin Film Festival, NatFilm Festival, Karlovy Vary Film Festival, Maine International Film Festival, Flanders International Film Festival, the IN-EDIT Barcelona International Music Documentary Film Festival, Hohaiyan Music Film Festival, Rio Film Festival, and the São Paulo International Film Festival.

The film had limited release on July 23, 2004 in the United States, as well as limited releases in Canada and the United Kingdom.

DVD release

A two-disc DVD for Region 1 was released on November 2, 2004 by New Line Home Video.

Box-office reception

The film earned $1.2 million at the US Box Office, and the DVD went straight in at number 1 on the Music Video & Concert DVD top-sellers charts at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Tower Records, etc., and has had an average customer review rating of 4.5 stars out of 5. According to Rotten Tomatoes, "Festival Express" was the second most critically acclaimed film released in 2004. [ [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/festival_express/ Festival Express - Movie Reviews, Trailers, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes ] ]

Critical reception

*“One of the great performance films of all time” - Hollywood Reporter;
*“An instant classic” - Variety;
*“guaranteed to thrill” - NY Times;
*“pure, unadulterated magic” - NY Post;
*“the wildest and woolliest ride in the history of music” - San Francisco Chronicle;
*“One of the great rock n’ roll movies” - Chicago Tribune;
*“An extraordinary film” – The Guardian;
*“one of the best rockumentaries there is” – London Evening Standard;
*“Festival Express is musical nirvana! In fact, if you're into Janis Joplin, Jerry Garcia or The Band stop reading now and run to see this film. If it's not screening in your area Fly to it, Drive to it. Get to this film because Festival Express is by far the most incredible, awe-inspiring - surreal - footage to be "discovered" in decades – Blunt Review.

References

External links

* [http://www.festivalexpress.com/ Official site]
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* [http://theband.hiof.no/videos/festival_express.html Song list]
* [http://www.siegelproductions.ca/festivalexpress.htm Review]