Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Festival Express Blu-ray Movie Review

They are stardust.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 11, 2014

Chances are if you were to ask someone to mention a 1970 concert film, just about everyone would answer Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music without giving that answer much of a second thought. While Woodstock of course set the standard for what a rock concert film could be, there was another 1970 concert film that in its own way was just as eventful as the documentary about the eruption of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll at Yasgur’s Farm in August 1969. Unfortunately, Festival Express didn’t make it to cineplexes in 1970, the year it was filmed. In fact it didn’t make it to cineplexes in the seventies, or the eighties, or the nineties. In what one of the creative staff argues might make the film eligible for some dubious award in the Guinness Book of World Records, it took well over thirty years for the film to finally be completed and released to the public. The making of featurette included on this Blu-ray as a supplement is one of the more improbable tales in the annals of film, with the devastating financial failure of a concert series leading to an almost bizarre series of consequences, one of which is the long, strange trip scores of film canisters took over the course of the intervening years, evading a series of lawsuits but also meaning that no one ever bothered to really examine footage or attempt to put together a cohesive film. A series of almost comical events finally brought the long forgotten reels of film to light in the late nineties, but even then existing elements proved so fragmented that further research and pawing through various collections was required before everything could finally be patched together into something relatively cogent and meaningful. Those who have a soft spot in their hearts for late sixties – early seventies rock music should be forever grateful to the many people who worked to resurrect Festival Express from the dustbin of history, for the film is a truly remarkable document of an intriguing set of Canadian concerts where, in the words of one of the participants, the “mountain came to Mohammed”, meaning that a bevy of rock stars boarded a train to visit several Canadian metropolises to perform, rather than expecting people to travel to hear them.

While some might come to Festival Express purely for the concert footage—footage which does, after all, offer Janis Joplin just a few weeks before her death, as well as other great stars of the era, like The Grateful Dead—it may in fact be the sociopolitical aspect of the film which is its most enduring attribute. After the epochal success of Woodstock, promoters were only too eager to recreate that sort of phenomenon. The idea of a multi-city Canadian tour seemed to be a way to generate that kind of excitement “up north”, and when the consortium producing the event(s) had the bright idea to charter a private train to carry the musicians from east to west, it seemed that a very important new mode of concertizing had come to the fore.

Unfortunately, the tenor of the times was filled with a “stick it to the man” zeitgeist, and that attitude created huge problems for the promoters and in a way for the musicians themselves. As almost unbelievable as it may sound to contemporary ears, kids back in 1970 were up in arms that the promoters had the audacity to charge (wait for it) $16 for a two day pass (and even that “outrageous” door admission could have been bested by ordering tickets in advance, saving a precious $2). These kids wanted free music, and they ended up staging huge, disruptive protests, including several knock down, drag out scuffles with the police (some of which are documented in Festival Express). What is so amazing about this is how virulent the “fans” are. One guy rips the microphone out of someone’s hand at pre-concert and begins an incredibly vicious riff on what “the pigs” are doing. A calm and deliberate Jerry Garcia tries to calm the roiling crowd, but to little effect. This is especially odd given that the promoters and the musicians were working overtime to come to a workable solution which, frankly, they were under no requirement to provide. They ended up giving a free mini-concert at a park.

What’s really fascinating about this kind of sad turn of events is how supportive the musicians were of the police. There’s a great, almost comical, scene of several band members talking to an unidentified press person, a reporter who trying to vilify the police and somehow tangentially indict the concert promoters. Bob Weir (of all people) gets a bit hot under the collar and insists that the cops were (in his words) “boss”. This is an unlikely team up between “long haired hippie freaks” and, as mentioned above, The Man, and makes for one of Festival Express’ most intriguing aspects, even if it is perhaps tangential to the main allure.

And that allure is no doubt the music making, whether it be on stage or the more casual jam sessions which were a nonstop situation on board the train as it traveled across the vast expanses of Canada. There are some fantastic performances here, especially by The Dead, who were just starting to branch out in their kind of quasi-country, jangly sound. But also on hand are The Band, Buddy Guy, Sha Na Na (a perhaps odd fit, given their shiny gold suits and retro rock ethos) and, of course, Janis Joplin. Joplin is sadly kind of a mixed bag here. Her rendition of “Cry Baby” is somewhat unfocused and even more raw than she typically was. But her “Tell Mama” is absolutely visceral, with an unbelievably rich yet raspy tone that hints at what she might have been capable of had she lived longer.

It’s also incredibly fun to see all of these iconic figures just kind of loosey-goosey on the train. There’s a really touching moment during a kind of quasi-jam where Jerry Garcia repeatedly tries to tell Janis how much he’s loved her since he first heard her. His compliments keep getting lost in the shuffle, as other people continue speaking and playing. It’s a bittersweet elegy, but one which perhaps serves as well for this long gestating film. Festival Express may not ever achieve the notoriety of Woodstock, but it’s a riveting experience on many levels, and deserves to be seen by anyone who loves that particular era in rock music.

Festival Express Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Festival Express is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout! Factory with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer largely in 1.86:1. (Some split screen segments which typically feature interviews on one side are in 2.46:1—see screenshots 7 and 9.) As is discussed in the Making of featurette, the elements for this transfer were cobbled together from vastly disparate sources, some of which were not especially well curated. Therefore, there are manifest differences in the look of various segments. The "original" footage (meaning the concert and train sequences) was filmed in 16mm, and much of this footage will look fairly grainy and soft to modern day eyes. Close-ups are generally decently sharp, but some of the on the fly footage suffers from a fairly rough appearance. Some of the elements have faded quite badly (see screenshot 6). Given reasonable expectations and an understanding of both the original format employed and the lack of proper storage for several decades, what's here looks surprisingly good. It's certainly not at contemporary standards of sharpness and clarity (even for 16 or Super 16 footage), but there's nothing overly problematic here. There doesn't seem to have been any overt attempts to degrain or sharpen the image, which film purists should certainly find laudable.

Festival Express Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As is also discussed in the Making of featurette, the sound elements for this piece were in at least as discombobulated a shape as the video elements, and there are certain limitations here that neither the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 nor the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 tracks can fully overcome. While the musical performances certainly pass muster from a casual perspective, close listening reveals a definite tinniness and narrowness, especially in the midranges. Perhaps surprisingly, the high end here suffers from no overt clipping and the lowest registers sound at least acceptably full. The interview segments feature very clear "confessional" dialogue. Again, given reasonable expectations and understanding the immense work that went in to reassembling the stems and synching them to the video, the results here are rather good, all things considered.

Festival Express Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Additional Interviews (480i; 19:17)


• The Making of Festival Express (480i; 14:16) is a really interesting account of the almost unbelievable trek this film took to finally be released.


• Train Hopping: Select the Tracks You Want to Hear allows you to skip to any given performance.


• Bonus Performances (480i; 56:22) include: "13 Questions" by Seatrain, "Child's Song" by Tom Rush, "Thirsty Boots" by Eric Andersen, "As Years Go By" by Mashmakhan, "Hoochie Coochie Man" by Buddy Guy Blues Band, "Tears of Rage" by Ian and Sylvia and The Great Speckled Bird, "Hard to Handle" and "Easy Wind" by The Grateful Dead, and "Kozmic Blues" and "Move Over" by Janis Joplin.


• Theatrical Trailer (480i; 1:58)

Note: There is a really annoying authoring error on this disc, where it's impossible to access either the Pop-Up Menu or the Main Menu while playing supplements. Even worse, once any given supplement is over, the disc intermittently returns to what should be the Main Menu page, only there are no clickable options available, just the page's artwork. On some occasions, the menu choices finally "magically" appear after a few seconds, at other times it takes a reboot of the disc to get menu options.

Festival Express Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Festival Express is an absolutely fascinating document of a once in a lifetime aggregation of iconic musicians taking an unusual trip by train, with a few concerts thrown in for good measure. Some of the most compelling footage here is of frankly entitled youth insisting they're "owed" free concerts. The musical performances are quite winning, but it's the candid footage of these legendary folks just hanging out on the train that will probably be most memorable to fans. Despite some niggling (but understandable) issues with both the video and audio, Festival Express comes Highly recommended.