Movie/DVD Review

Imagine putting together some of today’s most versatile rock stars like Trey Anastasio, Ben Harper, Perry Farrell, Warren Haynes, Dave Matthews and Wayne Coyne, and then placing them in a train to party, jam and play a couple shows along the way.

Well, that’s the idea that promoter Ken Walker had when he decided to enlist the Grateful Dead, The Band, Janis Joplin, Buddy Guy, Flying Burito Brothers, Sha Na Na and others for an east to west journey in the summer of 1970 along the Canadian frontier, noted as the Festival Express. Thankfully, a new documentary unleashes never before seen footage of the iconic musicians in this rare setting, basking in true flower power camaraderie.

Renting a CN train that bordered on luxury and mayhem, band members would gather together in the bar cart and jam, making each ride a Bonnaroo unto itself. Drugs and booze were the main serving onboard, and aside from little sleep, the music mounted to in the words of Bob Weir, “some pretty heady stuff.” The eclectic group genuinely wanted the ride to go on forever, quite the opposite of the typical “let’s get to the city quick, play the gig and leave” scenario most often seen in rock. As gel caps made their way to the bottom of whiskey bottles, the train achieved “liftoff” and much of this youthful energy is colorfully caught on film.

Visiting the cities of Toronto, Winnipeg and Calgary, each band threw down eagerly, as individual members would sit in on each other’s sets, or watch from below in the front row. Unseen live footage abounds, including vintage Workingmans Dead era tunes of the Grateful Dead, with Pigpen McKernan on harmonica, performing such classics as “Don’t Ease Me In” and “New Speedway Boogie,” providing a front row view of a tight bluesy era of the band. We spy on the space cadet that Bob Weir used to be - skinny, pony tail, cowboy hat and substances - long before he became the more holistic, polo shirted rock star we know today. The Band, including Richard Manuel crooning “I Shall Be Released,” along with Rick Danko leading a jam session on the train is true gold, proving why The Band were just so striking for their time. But the footage of Janis Joplin spilling her blues drenched howl to a stellar version of “Cry Baby” gives us further evidence that she just may be the greatest female rock voice ever, stealing the film with her improvisational vocals.

The most memorable scene ultimately involves a jam session on the train with Garcia, Joplin, and Weir, in which Garcia, in a drunken haze pokes to Joplin, “Janis, I loved you ever since the day I saw you.” The lady charmer in Garcia we never really got to see is more than worth checking out in Festival Express.