"Festival Express" is one of the smarter documentaries out there — it knows when to shut the interview subjects up and let the music do the talking.

And what music it is. The film features performances by such musical luminaries as the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin & The Full Tilt Boogie Band, the Flying Burrito Brothers, the Band and the Buddy Guy Blues Band — all of them in their prime.

Also, unlike some other, less-successful musical documentaries, which cut away in mid-song for an interview snippet, this one actually keeps the camera on the performers while they're onstage.

The film's subject is a spectacularly unsuccessful — at least monetarily — concert series that toured throughout Canada in 1970. Promoters even paid to transport all the musicians, by rail, through the country to each concert stop.

That sounds like a good idea, right? Wrong.

As the film shows, the transportation costs mounted, and worse, some rather free-thinking music fans showed up to protest the ticket prices, forcing promoters to hire additional security to handle the rioting.

And even when the promoters and bands scheduled a free, conciliatory concert for some of the protesters, the then-embittered paying customers did a little rioting of their own.

Festival Express is a very well-assembled piece. The filmmakers, including veteran music-video director Bob Smeaton, had the approval of the original promoters, as well as most of the bands that were involved — with the exceptions of Traffic and Ten Years After, which joined the tour in its latter stages — and it shows.

Smeaton also keeps the decades-later interviews short and to the point. Obviously, it's really the performances that audiences will want to see here. The arguable standouts are the Dead's version of "Friend of the Devil," Joplin's "Me and Bobby McGee" and Buddy Guy's smoking-hot rendition of "Money." (And thankfully, nothing much is heard from novelty act Sha Na Na.)

"Festival Express" is rated R for scattered use of strong sexual profanity, strong drug references, and a scene of violence (rioting). Running time: 90 minutes.

---

E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com