Festival Express

Festival Express was staged in three Canadian cities: Toronto, Winnipeg and Calgary, during the summer of 1970. Rather than flying into each city, the musicians traveled by chartered Canadian National Railways train, in a total of 14 cars (two engines, one diner, five sleepers, two lounge cars, two flat cars, one baggage car, and one staff car).{{Cite news |last=McCracken |first=Melinda |date=1 May 1970 |title=A mobile rock festival for 4 cities |pages=15 |work=The Globe and Mail (Toronto) |url=http://199.198.129.206/GetImage/GetImage.asp?ID=2883145&ZyNetId={A95966F2-44E1-4A07-8469-E7AF1E78380B}&ext=.pdf |access-date=11 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110810153913/http://199.198.129.206/GetImage/GetImage.asp?ID=2883145&ZyNetId={A95966F2-44E1-4A07-8469-E7AF1E78380B}&ext=.pdf |archive-date=August 10, 2011}} The train journey between cities ultimately became a combination of non-stop jam sessions and partying fueled by alcohol. One highlight of the documentary is a drunken jam session featuring The Band's Rick Danko, the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir, New Riders of the Purple Sage's John Dawson, as well as Janis Joplin.{{cite news |title=Film documenting ill-fated Canadian train tour by Dead, Joplin rumbles to life after decades in purgatory |first=Joel |last=Selvin |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |date= 12 July 2004}}

The event, initially billed as the Transcontinental Pop Festival, was developed and conceived by Ken Walker and promoted by Eaton-Walker Associates (consisting of Thor Eaton, George Eaton, and Ken Walker) and the concerts were produced and financed together with Industrial and Trade Shows of Canada (ITS) division of MacLean-Hunter Publishing Company and originally included the following cities:{{cite news |title=Peace also has its hawks and doves in the pop festival business |first=Melinda |last=McCracken |newspaper=The Globe and Mail (Toronto)|pages=25 |date= 18 April 1970}}

The Montreal event was cancelled a few weeks before the scheduled date by Lucien Saulnier, chairman of the City of Montreal Executive Committee (and acting under authority of mayor Jean Drapeau), because it clashed with St. Jean-Baptiste Day (June 24) celebrations and there were concerns about a diluted security force and the potential for violence.{{cite news|title=Accommodating pop festivals |newspaper=The Globe and Mail (Toronto) |pages=6 |date=12 June 1970 |url=http://199.198.129.206/GetImage/GetImage.asp?ID=2884736&ZyNetId={36CA51A4-EDC2-4E5F-B1FA-3962BBB972D5}&ext=.pdf |access-date=11 May 2011 }}{{dead link|date=December 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{cite news |title=$16 ticket rock festival expects to lure 30,000 |first=William |last=Dampier |newspaper=Toronto Daily Star|pages=50 |date= 24 June 1970}} Buses were run from Montreal to the Toronto Festival Express stop and Montreal tickets were honored in Toronto.{{cite news |title=Summer's down is deceiving |first=Dave |last=Bist |newspaper=Montreal Gazette |pages=41 |date= 19 June 1970}}{{cite book |title=Searching For The Sound |url=https://archive.org/details/searchingforsoun00lesh |url-access=registration | last=Lesh | first=Phil | author-link=Phil Lesh | year=2005 | publisher=Little, Brown and Company| location=New York | isbn=0-316-00998-9 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/searchingforsoun00lesh/page/179 179–184]}} The Vancouver venue, Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) Empire Stadium, could not be secured as they were scheduled to have artificial turf (Tartan Turf) installed shortly before the scheduled event, and there was concern about damage to the turf.{{cite news |title=Festival Express a financial loss for the promoters |first=Michael |last=Bennett |newspaper=The Sun (Vancouver)|pages=33 |date= 24 October 1970}} In March, 1970, Walker requested use of an alternate venue, Capilano Stadium, for the event, but this was denied by the Vancouver City Council over several concerns, including inadequate sanitary and food facilities, challenges with policing the event, and vagrancy.{{Cite conference |title=Communication from Department of Permits and Licenses|date=6 April 1970|location=Vancouver, BC}}{{Cite conference |title=City Council Minutes|date=7 April 1970|location=Vancouver, BC}} Therefore, Vancouver was dropped from the tour, and Calgary was subsequently added. The event in Calgary was initially to be held in an open field, Paskapoo Ski Hill (to later become Canada Olympic Park), but the city requested it be held at McMahon Stadium instead, as it would permit better organization and security.{{cite web | url=http://stampeders.com | title=Calgary Stampeders website | at=p.c. Rogers Lehew, former general manager of the Calgary Stampeders and McMahon Stadium | work=Stampeders.com | access-date=19 March 2011}}

The tour ultimately began in Toronto at the CNE Grandstand, which was plagued with about 2,500 protestors who objected to what they viewed as exploitation by promoters charging $14 per ticket. The opposition was organized by the May 4th Movement (M4M), the left-rebel group that grew out of the May 4, 1970 Kent State shootings. They attempted to crash the gates and scale the fence, and clashed with police, resulting in injuries to both protesters and policemen. To help calm the crowd, Metro Police Inspector Walter Magahay asked the promoter, Ken Walker, to lower ticket prices, but this would have left the promoters unable to pay the musicians. Subsequently, Jerry Garcia, in conjunction with Magahay, was instrumental in calming the unruly crowd by arranging a spontaneous free "rehearsal" concert in nearby Coronation Park upon a flatbed truck, while the scheduled show continued at the stadium. Once the free concert, which began at about 7:00pm on June 27, was announced, most of the ticketless fans dispersed to Coronation Park, with an initial attendance of about 6,000, thereby resolving the protest. Once the show at the CNE Grandstand ended at 12:30am, another 6,000 fans went to the park for the remainder of the free concert, which lasted until about 4:00am on June 28. Playing at Coronation Park were The Grateful Dead, Ian & Sylvia and the Great Speckled Bird, James and the Good Brothers, the New Riders of the Purple Sage (all of whom also performed at the CNE concert). Other local Toronto bands also played, including January, The People's Revolutionary Concert Band, Si Potma and P.M. Howard (of Beatlemania fame). There are some reports indicating a free concert was also performed on the second day, albeit to a much smaller crowd of about 500, as many of the protesters paid admission to the event on the second day. Many people spent the night and following day sleeping in the park until the second show at CNE Grandstand ended at 12:30am on June 29.{{cite news |title=Festival Express: bashed heads and bad trips |newspaper=The Globe and Mail (Toronto)|pages=15 |date= 29 June 1970}}{{cite news |title=The Million Dollar Bash |last=Dalton |first=David |author2=Cott, Jonathan |newspaper=Rolling Stone|pages=30–34 |date= 3 September 1970}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.heritagetoronto.org/news/story/2010/11/17/festival-express |title=The Festival Express: Canada's Travelling Music Festival |last=Wencer |first=David |date=17 November 2010 |work=Heritage Toronto |access-date=6 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927175620/http://www.heritagetoronto.org/news/story/2010/11/17/festival-express |archive-date=27 September 2011 }}

On the way to Winnipeg, the second stop on the tour, the train stopped in Chapleau, Ontario, to replenish its dwindling alcohol supply, buying out the entire stock of a small liquor store.{{Cite news | title=Woodstock on wheels | last=Cullingham | first=James | newspaper=The Globe and Mail (Toronto) | date=25 May 2000 | pages=R1, R3 }} The Winnipeg show had only a modest turnout of 4,600, partly due to fears about crowd violence based on the events in Toronto and partly due to the Manitoba Centennial appearance by Prime Minister Trudeau. The event was not plagued by protests or violence, however.

In Calgary, the third and final stop, the police wished to avoid the protests witnessed in Toronto and their presence seemed to subdue the crowds outside the stadium, though there were many complaints about the ticket prices. It was estimated{{who|date=November 2020}} that about 1,000 people managed to sneak in on Saturday by climbing fences early in the day, but security was tightened, and by the afternoon and Sunday, fewer people managed to breach the fences.{{cite news |title=Festival Termed Success; City Police Win Praise |first=Jacques |last=Hamilton |newspaper=Calgary Herald|pages=19, 22 |date= 6 July 1970}} However, there was a heated altercation between promoter Ken Walker and Calgary mayor Rod Sykes after Sykes strongly suggested to Walker on Sunday afternoon that he open the gates and let the kids in free after the show was well underway. Walker, who was livid about the mayor's intrusion and his reference to Walker as "Eastern scum" "trying to skim" the young people of Calgary, claimed to have punched the mayor in the mouth, and boasted that he still had a scar on his hand to prove it.{{cite news |title=Called 'scum' by mayor, promoter says |newspaper=The Globe and Mail (Toronto)|pages=9 |date= 11 November 1970}}{{cite news |title=The tracks of his tears |first=James |last=Adams |newspaper=The Globe and Mail (Toronto)|pages=R01, R09 |date= 24 July 2004}}

The tour had an original budget of about $900,000 (of which $500,000 was for musical talent), but largely due to less than predicted turnout, gross receipts were just over $500,000 and the project ultimately lost between $350,000 and $500,000 for the promoters. Although the tour was a financial failure, it produced many notable performances,{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} including some of the final performances by Janis Joplin, who would die about three months after the end of the tour. In the film, Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead said, "Woodstock was a treat for the audience, but the train was a treat for the performers."{{cite journal | title=Festival Express 1970: Rock & Rail! | last=Lèvesque | first=Robert | journal=Via Destinations | volume=5 | issue=4 |date=August 2008 | pages=20–21 | publisher=Les Éditions Gesca}} Jerry Garcia later said that what he remembers most about the tour is being "so blisteringly drunk".{{cite web |last1=Benes |first1=Steve |title=Jerry Garcia: Discovered or at Least Busted (The Days Between) |url=https://relix.com/articles/detail/jerry-garcia-discovered-or-at-least-busted-the-days-between/ |website=Relix Media |date=August 1, 2020}}

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• "Don't Ease Me In", Grateful Dead
• "Friend of the Devil", Grateful Dead
• "Slippin' and Slidin'", The Band
• "Comin' Home Baby", Mashmakhan
• "Money (That's What I Want)", Buddy Guy Blues Band
• "Lazy Days", The Flying Burrito Brothers
• "The Weight", The Band
• "Cry Baby", Janis Joplin
• "Ain't No More Cane", jam session on train including Rick Danko, John Dawson, Janis Joplin, Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir
• "Rock & Roll Is Here to Stay", performed by Sha Na Na
• "New Speedway Boogie", Grateful Dead
• "C.C. Rider", Ian & Sylvia and the Great Speckled Bird (with Jerry Garcia and Delaney Bramlett)
• "I Shall Be Released", The Band
• "Tell Mama", Janis Joplin
• "Me and Bobby McGee", Janis Joplin
• "Cold Jordan", Jerry Garcia
• "Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad", Delaney & Bonnie & Friends

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• "Casey Jones", Grateful Dead (opening credits)
• "13 Questions", Seatrain
• "Child's Song", Tom Rush
• "Thirsty Boots", Eric Andersen
• "As the Years Go By", Mashmakhan
• "Tears of Rage", Ian & Sylvia and Great Speckled Bird
• "Hoochie Coochie Man", Buddy Guy Blues Band
• "Hard to Handle", Grateful Dead
• "Easy Wind", Grateful Dead
• "Move Over", Janis Joplin
• "Kozmic Blues", Janis Joplin

• Audio recordings of Janis Joplin's performances from all three shows have surfaced on various posthumous releases. Starting with the 1972 double live album, Joplin In Concert, which consisted of Festival Express recordings on its second disc, and culminating with Live From The Festival Express Tour, Canada, released as a bonus disc for the 2005 deluxe reissue of her 1971 album, Pearl. The 13 track disc collected many of the previously released recordings, along with 6 which were previously unreleased. Five filmed performances ("Tell Mama", "Kozmic Blues", "Cry Baby", "Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)" and "Move Over") were featured in the 1974 film, Janis.
• Filmed performances of "Long Black Veil" and "Rockin' Chair", from July 5, 1970, in Calgary appear on The Band's anthology album, A Musical History.{{Cite web|url=http://theband.hiof.no/albums/a_musical_history.html|title = The Band: A Musical History}}

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These festival performers were not featured in the film or DVD extras:

• Robert Charlebois
• Delaney & Bonnie & Friends (Delaney Bramlett sits in with Great Speckled Bird during "C.C. Rider" and Bonnie Bramlett can be seen on the train; their saxophonist Jerry Jumonville also appears.)
• The Ides of March
• James and The Good Brothers
• Mountain (member Leslie West can be seen jamming at the beginning of the film)
• Ten Years After (performed only in Toronto; performances of "I'm Goin' Home" and "Slow Blues in C" were filmed, but according to film producer Gavin Poolman in May 2011, lead guitarist and singer Alvin Lee wouldn't approve their appearance in the film, saying he thought his guitar was out of tune)
• Traffic (performed only in Toronto; on the DVD, promoter Ken Walker states that Traffic was on the train, but the band's record company wouldn't allow them to appear in the film. Two performances were filmed; however, according to film producer Gavin Poolman in May 2011, Steve Winwood's management refused permission for these to appear in the film.)
• The New Riders of the Purple Sage, which, in mid-1970, featured Jerry Garcia on pedal-steel guitar, as well as Mickey Hart as occasional percussionist. Also, John Dawson is seen in the "Ain't No More Cane" scene, sitting on the couch with Rick Danko and Janis Joplin, as they work through several drunken verses of the tune. Buddy Cage can also be seen, performing as a member of Great Speckled Bird.

Because the Festival Express tour turned out to be a complete financial disaster, the promoters injuncted the film footage and the film project was shelved soon afterwards, as the footage mysteriously disappeared. Some of the film's reels turned up in the garage of the original producer Willem Poolman, where they had been stored for decades and used at various times as goal posts for ball hockey games played by his son Gavin when he was a teenager.

The plan to resurrect the film was started in 1999 by executive producer Garth Douglas and story consultant James Cullingham, who found many more reels in the Canadian National Film Archives vault, where it had been kept in pristine condition, unknown to the world. Garth got in touch with Gavin, who had grown up to become a film producer based in London, England. Gavin put the film together with his old high school friend John Trapman, and Bob Smeaton, double Grammy Award-winning director of The Beatles Anthology, was brought on board.

The music tracks were mixed at Toronto's MetalWorks Studios and produced by Eddie Kramer, Jimi Hendrix's producer, and engineer for Led Zeppelin, Woodstock, and Derek & The Dominos Live In Concert. The film was produced by London-based Apollo Films (a division of [http://www.apollomedia.net Apollo Media]) together with PeachTree Films in Amsterdam.

Festival Express had its world premiere at the 2003 Toronto International Film Festival. Other festival releases included the San Francisco Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Bermuda Film Festival, London Film Festival, Miami Film Festival, Wisconsin Film Festival, NatFilm Festival, Karlovy Vary Film Festival, Maine International Film Festival, Flanders International Film Festival, the IN-EDIT Barcelona International Music Documentary Film Festival, Hohaiyan Music Film Festival, Rio Film Festival, Vienna International Film Festival and the São Paulo International Film Festival.

The film was released theatrically on July 23, 2004, in the United States, as well as in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Scandinavia.

A two-disc DVD for Region 1 was released on November 2, 2004, by New Line Home Video.

A two-disc DVD for Region 4 was released in Australia in 2005 by

Magna Pacific. [https://www.discogs.com/release/6177481]

A Blu-ray disc for Region 1 was released in 2014 by Shout Factory.

The film earned $1.2 million at the US Box Office, and the DVD went straight in at number 1 on the Music Video & Concert DVD top-sellers charts at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Tower Records, etc., and has had an average customer review rating of 4.5 stars out of 5. According to Rotten Tomatoes, Festival Express was the second most critically acclaimed film released in 2004.[http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/festival_express/ Festival Express - Movie Reviews, Trailers, Pictures] Rotten Tomatoes{{Failed verification|reason=link show Rotten Tomatoes score only, does not say anything about the best reviews films of the year|date=March 2022}}

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros joined [https://web.archive.org/web/20120226183903/http://railroadrevivaltour.com/ The Railroad Revival Tour] in April 2011 with Mumford and Sons and Old Crow Medicine Show."[https://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/news/20120227_mumford.shtml Mumford's railroad revival: The band boarded the Big Easy Express for a US tour with a difference]" interview by Sinead Garvanin 6 Music News, BBC Radio; 27/02/2012. Traveling in vintage rail cars, the three bands performed in six "unique outdoor locations" over the course of a week starting in Oakland, California.[http://railroadrevivaltour.com/tour-info/ The Railroad Revival Tour] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110424105718/http://railroadrevivaltour.com/tour-info/ |date=April 24, 2011 }} tour info. The musical documentary Big Easy Express, which was made of the trip and directed by Emmett Malloy, premiered March 2012 at the South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival (SXSW Film) in Austin, Texas."[http://www.indiewire.com/article/sxsw-film-announced-2012-features-lineup SXSW Film Announces 2012 Features Lineup; 'Big Easy Express' to Close Festival]" by Nigel M. Smith, IndieWire; February 1, 2012"[http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/03/18/sxsw-mumford-and-sons-big-easy-express/ SXSW: Mumford & Sons doc brings film festival to triumphant end]" by Karen Valby, EW.com, Entertainment Weekly; March 18, 2012.

• Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter was on the trip, and soon after wrote "Might as Well", a song filled with imagery from the legendary trip that was often played live by Grateful Dead, but released as a studio tune on the 1976 Jerry Garcia solo album Reflections.{{Cite web | url=http://siegelproductions.ca/festivalexpress.htm | title=Festival Express Takes Off | last=Forrester | first=James | year=2004 | work=siegelproductions.ca | access-date=7 August 2011}}{{Cite web | url=http://artsites.ucsc.edu/GDead/agdl/aswe.html | title=The Annotated "Might As Well" | last=Dodd | first=David | work=The Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics | date=7 January 1997 | access-date=12 October 2011}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{IMDb title}}
• [http://theband.hiof.no/videos/festival_express.html Song list]
• [http://www.siegelproductions.ca/festivalexpress.htm Review]

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{{The Band}}

{{AARP Movies for Grownups Award for Best Documentary}}

Category:1970 in music

Category:2003 films

Category:Concert films

Category:Concert tours

Category:English-language Canadian films

Category:Canadian musical documentary films

Category:Films shot in Canada

Category:1970 in Canada

Category:Canadian music history

Category:Rockumentaries

Category:Documentary films about rail transport

Category:2003 documentary films

Category:Hippie films

Category:1970 in Canadian music

Category:Documentary films about music festivals

Category:2000s English-language films

Category:2000s Canadian films

Category:English-language documentary films