Festival Express Movie Review:


In the summer of 1970 a group of top musicians took a groovy tour across Canada by train, playing concerts in Toronto, Winnipeg and Calgary. But the trip was just as notable for the antics aboard the train as for the music they played! Now more than 30 years later the footage is finally edited into a documentary, complete with new interviews. It's a thoroughly enjoyable film for several reasons, mainly the music. This is the pure thing: raw, uncluttered rock and roll! The live performances simply make most of today's pop acts look like the manufactured hacks that they are. The Band, the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Buddy Guy--these are astonishingly talented artists who seem to play effortlessly. It's simply impossible to pick a highlight. And the film captures not only their energetic stage acts but also impromptu on-board jam sessions and such off-stage antics as their emergency stop in Saskatoon to restock the train's bar.

Filmmaker Smeaton compiles this material skilfully, showing the events mostly from the musicians' perspective. The footage is extremely well filmed and edited, often using split screen to get even more material out there. Not only do we get a feel for the free-spirited 70s lifestyle, but we also see crowds of fans fighting against commercialism and tyranny ... so they can get free concert tickets! It's a clever look at the period, even if it does slightly sidestep the politics. The comments of promoter Walker add both comic value and insight, as do memories of people 30 years later. This was an experience that's perhaps more notable to the artists than to the fans--living on a train as it travelled across the Canadian wasteland was like summer camp! Yet even with the passing of years, no one seems willing to spill the dirt on everything they got up to on the train. Although we get a pretty good idea.

Rich Cline

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