This came out in 2004 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Take The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band, Flying Burrito Brothers, Buddy Guy and a handful of other 1970 rock icons.
Put them on a train across Canada, stopping for gigs in Toronto, Winnipeg and Calgary. Add absurd amounts of alcohol and drugs. Then film the whole shebang. You’ve got Festival Express, one of the oddest tours of the era — and, since the long-lost footage was finally released last year, one of the best rockumentaries since Woodstock. The DVD manages to improve on the theatrical release with more than an hour of extra live and interview footage. Even without it, though, the set is worth every penny for Joplin’s spine-tingling rendition of Cry Baby, shot at the old Winnipeg Stadium on Canada Day less than 100 days before her death.
