Festival Express
I finally found a copy of this archival film from 1970. This documovie is about a festival tour of Canada, in which the bands travelled from festival to festival on a charter locomotive. The list of bands includes Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead (featuring Pig Pen), The Band and The Flying Burrito Brothers. The train travels from east to west, stopping at Canadian cities and playing festivals that were located in football and baseball stadiums. Do the Canadians play football and baseball ? Janis Joplin is the best. Garcia looks surprisingly trim and muscular. The train has a dining car with tablecloths on the tables. The bar car has a drum set, hammond organ, guitar and bass amps and p.a.
It was rather fashionable in 1970 to demand that the audience get into the festivals for free, regardless of the expense of transporting and paying the bands. One so called hippie fractures a mounty’s skull, rather than pay the sixteen dollar admission charge for the event. One of the promoters punches out the mayor of a Canadian city after being called an eastern scum.
The sound quality of the movie is pleasantly imperfect, which gives the film a nice, authentic, nostalgic quality. Whether you like the country, bluesy style of most of the bands’ music or not, the film is an unbelievable documentary of a time gone by.
May God rest the souls of Janis and Pig Pen.
I.C.