Festival Express

[DVD cover] [Screen shots] [Film] [Official web site]

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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 travelled 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 2003, when director Bob Smeaton released the Festival Express movie. A momentous achievement in rock film archaeology, Festival Express combines the long-lost material with contemporary interviews nearly 35 years after it was first filmed.

In November 2004, New Line Home Entertainment released a Region 1 2-disc DVD set of the concert film. The DVD set has over 50 additional minutes of exclusive performance footage not seen in the theatrical version of the film, and also offers 25 minutes of additional interviews, "The Making of the Festival Express Film" featurette, the theatrical trailer and a photo gallery as well as a 16x9 widescreen version of the film with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, DTS and stereo surround sound, with English and Spanish subtitles and closed captions.

MGM Home Entertainment put out an expensive two-disc Special Edition DVD in December 2004, with even more extras and a special feature that allows viewers to play only the performance tracks.

Song list - original film
1.	Grateful Dead	Casey Jones
2.	Grateful Dead	Don't Ease Me In
3.	Grateful Dead	Friend of the Devil
4.	The Band	Slippin' and Slidin'
5.	Delaney & Bonnie etc	Goin' Down the Road
6.	Buddy Cage/ Various Artists	Traditional Country Song
7.	Buddy Guy & Rick Danko	Baby Here I Come
8.	Jerry Garcia & Sylvia Tyson	Better Take Jesus' Hand (1st version)
9.	Mashmakan	Comin' Home Baby
10.	Buddy Guy	Money
11.	Flying Burrito Bros	Lazy Day
12.	The Band	The Weight
13.	Janis Joplin	Cry Baby
14.	Buddy Guy & Jerry Garcia	I Can't Do It Baby
15.	Rick Danko & Janis etc	Ain't No More Cane
16.	Buddy Guy & Rick Danko	Soul Jam
17.	Various Artists	Sunshine of Your Love
18.	Sha Na Na	Rock & Roll is Here to Stay
19.	Ian & Sylvia & The Great Speckled Bird	CC Rider
20.	Grateful Dead	New Speedway Boogie
21.	The Band	I Shall Be Released
22.	Janis Joplin	Tell Mama
23.	Janis Joplin	Me & Bobby McGee
24.	New Riders of the Purple Sage	Better Take Jesus' Hand (1st version)
DVD "bonus" songs
1.	Grateful Dead	Hard to Handle
2.	Grateful Dead	Easy Wind
3.	Janis Joplin	Move Over
4.	Janis Joplin	Kozmic Blues
5.	Buddy Guy	Hoochie Coochie Man
6.	Mashmakhan	As Years Go By
7.	Eric Anderson	Thirsty Boots
8.	Ian & Sylvia	Tears of Rage
9.	Tom Rush	Child's Song
10.	Seatrain	Thirteen Questions

Various Artists - Festival Express - 2004 - New Line Home Entertainment DVD N7573
Special Edition 2-DVD set - 2004 - MGM Home Entertainment