A Long, Strange Trip

Last night we saw a terrific concert movie, "Festival Express." In the summer of 1970, a train filled with the Grateful Dead, the Band, Janis Joplin, Buddy Guy, Ian & Sylvia, and others took a 5-day trip across Canada, stopping now and then for concerts. Most of the time, though, was spent partying and making music on the train. The filming was excellent, surprisingly so, and it was incredible to watch these people when they were so very young, just having fun and jamming with each other. Bob Weir looked about 12 (he was 23) and Jerry Garcia was only 28. (Janis was 27; she'd be dead by that fall.) I was surprised by how much I was moved by the Band's performance; they too were only in their twenties then and when they lit into "The Weight," I just burst into tears! I suddenly felt so old. Which is strange, because I was only 8 in 1970; I didn't really get a glimpse of the Band until "The Last Waltz" in 1978. I guess I've just always had a soft spot for Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm, and for Rick Danko in particular. Anyhow, if you're even remotely interested in the music of that time, you should definitely rent this movie. The DVD contains some extra music clips and interviews, and there's even more stuff at the movie's site.

Comments

[susan]

Sounds great. I put it at the top of my movie queue. I loved The Last Waltz, saw it in 1978 and just rented it for rescreening last month.

[terrilynn]

I've added it to my queue, too. I so love The Band, and "The Weight" is one of those lifetime songs for me. If you've never heard Aretha's version, you should (with Duane Allman playing guitar!).

[Mquest]

Great movie. I watched it a dozen times the first week I had it. For some reason I love the fact that they pulled the train over at a liquor store to buy more liquor. I also find it amusing that this was the Deads first real brush with alcohol. All that experimenting with psychedelics and they skipped alcohol? I was impressed with Buddy Guy and his band. I thought they played well. How does a band like Sha-NA-NA (sp?) get on the bill of a concert like that? Did you watch the commentary? It is rather fun-- But, I really hated the promoter. I friend of mine thought they should rename the move the “jerry and Janis train.

[Karen]

I love Aretha's version too -- and I also have versions by the Grateful Dead with the Allman Brothers, Levon Helm/John Hiatt/Radney Foster/Mark Collie, Levon Helm/Sheryl Crow/Robbie Robertson/Emmylou Harris/James Taylor/Jakob Dylan, and Sheryl Crow/The Wallflowers! (I tend to do a lot of downloading from Limewire!)

[Karen]

I loved the liquor store part too!

At the Festival Express web site, there are a couple of extra interview clips. Bob says (today) that that was the absolute sickest he'd ever seen Jerry, so I guess it's true that they weren't used to drinking.

I agree about Sha-na-na...HUH? There were some "questionable" performers at Woodstock, too. And what the heck was Neil Diamond doing on The Last Waltz????

[Tony]

It's nice to know that other people have similar taste when it comes to music. Also "what's appropriate" and what's not. Sha-na-na and Neil Diamond missed the boat that every performer I like sailed on! Oh well, you can't always get what you want!