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Festival Express

Play trailer Poster for Festival Express R Released Sep 9, 2003 1h 30m Documentary Music Play Trailer Watchlist
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96% Tomatometer 80 Reviews 85% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
This compilation of footage from the Grateful Dead's Canadian train tour depicts the height of the band's music and fame for five days in 1970, along with that of performances from Janis Joplin, Buddy Guy, The Band and The Flying Burrito Brothers. However, there's also a dark side shown alongside the seminal concerts, as when the train stops, the musicians are often confronted with worried promoters, inquisitive reporters and protesting students who can't afford ticket prices.
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Festival Express

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Critics Consensus

Festival Express is a spellbinding documentary that nostalgically chronicles five days in the summer of 1970, when a train full of now- legendary rock perfomers jammed its way across Canada.

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Critics Reviews

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Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly Rated: B- Sep 7, 2011 Full Review Peter Travers Rolling Stone Rated: 3.5/4 Aug 14, 2007 Full Review Marjorie Baumgarten Austin Chronicle It captures a pure moment in time when musical hearts and minds beat as one, when musicians of all stripes came together to work and play hard and leave behind one damn fine-looking corpse. Rated: 4/5 Oct 19, 2004 Full Review Jason Gorber Film Scouts Man, what were they smoking? Oh, yeah, right. That. Rated: A Jun 21, 2007 Full Review Ethan Alter NYC Film Critic Rated: 3.5/5 Mar 5, 2005 Full Review Robert Roten Laramie Movie Scope A good snapshot of an earlier, simpler, more innocent time that seems now even longer ago than it was. Rated: B Feb 1, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member Unbelievable raw time capsule of what happened to the rock n' roll party post-sixties. What happened traveling on the train to and from the shows was the show you wanted to get tickets to, not what happened in the stadiums. You also get a glimpse at the party starting to close out. You understand why Janis Joplin was losing her voice after you watch her and Rick Danko (The Band) drunkenly flirting through song, while Jerry Garcia tries to slip in there with his, I've always loved you, Janis! There's a little sadness in this one as it's a closing of an era, you see the stars haggling with their fans of 60s philosophy to pay to get into the stadiums, instead of embracing all that freedom and love. There's definitely a clashing here of what the dream was, and the pitfalls of the music industry. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/17/23 Full Review Audience Member one of the finest concert movies from the 70s great music and 70s vibe ! Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Audience Member Never a dull moment on two fun-packed discs. The only traveling festival ever was both a massive failure and a massive success. This, BTW started just 5 weeks after my first Dead show. Owned. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/23/23 Full Review Audience Member I had never heard of this festival tour until I saw the DVD for sale at my local DVD shop. I bought it on instinct, pessimistically expecting a low-budget, partly black-and-white montage with too many stills, but was fortunately captivated by this great, fly-on-the-wall look at what has to be one of the most exciting tours in history. It's all in colour, and there is also amazing sound; somewhat a necessity for capturing the on-stage performances of the great American bands of the time. Moreover, there's a large amount of bonus material, including concert footage of some of the lesser known artists who had the opportunity of a lifetime to play on the same bill as Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead and the Band, as well as jam with them on this rail-trip of a lifetime. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Audience Member trip out and flashback, man. this movie is far out. i wish i was there. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Audience Member Some really good conert footage and behind the scenes of some of the top bands of the 60's and 70's. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Festival Express

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis This compilation of footage from the Grateful Dead's Canadian train tour depicts the height of the band's music and fame for five days in 1970, along with that of performances from Janis Joplin, Buddy Guy, The Band and The Flying Burrito Brothers. However, there's also a dark side shown alongside the seminal concerts, as when the train stops, the musicians are often confronted with worried promoters, inquisitive reporters and protesting students who can't afford ticket prices.
Director
Bob Smeaton
Producer
Gavin Poolman, John Trapman
Distributor
ThinkFilm
Production Co
Apollo Films Ltd.
Rating
R (Some Language)
Genre
Documentary, Music
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Sep 9, 2003, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Feb 11, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA)
$1.2M
Runtime
1h 30m
Sound Mix
Surround, Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.85:1)
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