Review of Festival Express (2003) by Scott S — 01 Sep 2004

A must-see for anyone with a penchant for jam-rock or honkey tonk. Festival Express shows you performances, on and off stage, many of which crackle with raw music passion and rarely paralelled talent. Janis Joplin steals the show with a rendition of "Cry, Baby" that would knock the boots off John Wayne.

Jerry Garcia and the Dead do exactly what they do best, transporting you to a warm sunny place. The Band prove they're one of the most underrated groups of all time. Buddy Guy is a man among boys.

The story of the concert series promotion and the various snafus that threaten to sink it are less interesting than the pure pleasure of seeing the players enjoying a luxury and comraderie they rarely had the opportunity for in those days of protest and shuttle buses.

In the end, it would have been nice to see and hear the musicians in more intimate moments, when they're not performing. We don't really learn anything about anybody we didn't already know.

But at heart this movie is more homage than revelation. It's a long, strange trip - and a welcome one.