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The Festival

Festival Express was staged in three Canadian cities: Toronto, Winnipeg and Calgary, during the summer of 1970. Rather than flying in to each city, the musicians traveled by chartered Canadian National Railways train, in a total of 14 cars (two engines, one diner, five sleepers, two lounge cars, two flat cars, one baggage car, and one staff car).  The train journey between cities ultimately became a combination of non-stop jam sessions and partying, fueled by alcohol. One highlight of the documentary is a drunken jam session featuring The Band's Rick Danko, the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir, and Janis Joplin.

The event, initially billed as the Transcontinental Pop Festival, was being promoted by Eaton-Walker Associates (consisting of Thor Eaton, George Eaton, and Ken Walker) and the Industrial and Trade Shows of Canada (ITS) division of MacLean-Hunter Publishing Company and was to encompass the following cities:

Transcontinental Pop Festival Venues Date

June 24, 1970

(St. Jean-Baptiste Day) Montreal, QC Autostade 12PM-12AM
(planned) $12 ($10 advance)
(planned) N/A Originally planned for June 20-21, but was changed to June 24; show was cancelled by the city in mid-June, 1970, a few weeks prior to event

June 27-28, 1970

Toronto, ON CNE Stadium
(aka CNE Grandstand and CNE Exhibition Stadium) 12PM-12AM One Day - $10 ($9 advance)
Two Day - $16 ($14 advance) 37,000

July 1, 1970

(Canada Day) Winnipeg, MB Winnipeg Stadium 12PM-12AM $12 ($10 advance) 4,600

July 4-5, 1970

Calgary, AB McMahon Stadium 12PM-12AM One Day - $10 ($9 advance)
Two Day - $16 ($14 advance) 20,000

July 4-5, 1970

Vancouver, BC PNE Empire Stadium N/A N/A N/A Venue could not be secured from the city and Vancouver was dropped from the tour in mid-April, 1970

The Montreal event was cancelled a few weeks before the scheduled date by Lucien Saulnier, chairman of the City of Montreal Executive Committee (and acting under authority of mayor Jean Drapeau), because it clashed with St. Jean-Baptiste Day (June 24) celebrations and there were concerns about a diluted security force and the potential for violence.  Buses were run from Montreal to the Toronto Festival Express stop and Montreal tickets were honored in Toronto.  The Vancouver venue, Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) Empire Stadium could not be secured as they were scheduled to have artificial turf (Tartan Turf) installed shortly before the scheduled event, and there was concern about damage to the turf.  In March, 1970, ITS requested use of an alternate venue, Capilano Stadium, for the event, but this was denied by the Vancouver City Council over several concerns, including inadequate sanitary and food facilities, challenges with policing the event, and vagrancy.  Therefore, Vancouver was dropped from the tour, and Calgary was subsequently added. The event in Calgary was initially to be held in an open field, Paskapoo Ski Hill (to later become Canada Olympic Park), but the city requested it be held at McMahon Stadium instead, as it would permit better organization and security.

The tour ultimately began in Toronto at the CNE Grandstand, which was plagued with about 2500 protestors who objected to what they viewed as exploitation by price-gouging promoters. The opposition was organized by the May 4th Movement (M4M), the left-rebel group that grew out of the May 4, 1970 Kent State shootings. They attempted to crash the gates and scale the barbed wire fence and clashed with police, resulting in several injuries. To help calm the crowd, Metro Police Inspector Walter Magahay was trying to get the promoter, Ken Walker, to lower ticket prices, but he refused. Subsequently, Jerry Garcia, in conjunction with Magahay, was instrumental in calming the unruly crowd by arranging a spontaneous free "rehearsal" concert in nearby Coronation Park upon a flatbed truck, while the scheduled show continued at the stadium. It began about 7:00pm on June 27. Once the free concert was announced, most of the ticketless fans dispersed, solving the protest problem, and went to Coronation Park, with an initial attendance of about 6,000. Once the show at the CNE Grandstand let out at 12:30am, another 6,000 fans went to the park for the remainder of the free concert, which lasted until about 4:00am on June 28. Playing at Coronation Park were The Grateful Dead, Ian & Sylvia and the Great Speckled Bird, James and the Good Brothers, the New Riders of the Purple Sage (from the original scheduled concert). Other local Toronto bands also played, including January, The People's Revolutionary Concert Band, Si Potma and P.M. Howard (of Beatlemania fame). There are some reports indicating a free concert was also performed on the second day, albeit to a much smaller crowd of about 500, as many of the protesters paid admission to the event on the second day. Many people spent the night and following day sleeping in the park until after the second show at CNE Grandstand was over at 12:30am on June 29.

Winnipeg, the second stop on the tour, had only a modest turnout of 4,600, partly due to fears about crowd violence based on the events in Toronto and partly due to the Manitoba Centennial appearance by Prime Minister Trudeau.  The event was not plagued with protest or any appreciable violence, however.

In Calgary, the third and final stop, the police wished to avoid the protests that were seen in Toronto and their presence seemed to subdue the crowds outside the stadium, though there were many complaints about the ticket prices. It was estimated that about 1000 people managed to sneak in on Saturday by climbing fences and a few rushed the gates early in the day, but security was tightened and on Saturday afternoon and Sunday fewer people had snuck in for free.  However, there was an altercation between promoter Ken Walker and Calgary mayor Rod Sykes, after Sykes suggested to Walker on Sunday afternoon that he open the gates and let the kids in for free. Walker who was livid about the mayor's suggestion and his reference to Walker as "Eastern scum", claims to have punched the mayor in the mouth, and boasted that he still had a scar on his hand to prove it.

The tour had an original budget of about $900,000 but largely due to less than predicted turnout, gross receipts were only about $500,000 and the project ultimately lost between $350,00 and $500,000 for the promoters.  Although the tour was a financial failure, the tour featured now-legendary performances by the Grateful Dead, The Band, Janis Joplin, and Buddy Guy, among others. The Dead were just transforming their sound from dense, jammed psychedelia to the country/folk harmonies of Workingman's Dead and American Beauty; The Band's performance showed them at the pinnacle of the their powers; and for Joplin, it would turn out to be some of her last performances, as she died about two months later.

In the film, musician Kenny Gradney, who performed with Delaney & Bonnie, commented on the atmosphere during the tour: "It was better than Woodstock, as great as Woodstock was."

Other festival performers

These festival performers were not featured in the film or DVD extras:

    Robert Charlebois
    Delaney & Bonnie (Delaney Bramlett sits in with Great Speckled Bird during "C.C. Rider" and Bonnie Bramlett can be seen on the train)
    The Ides of March
    James and The Good Brothers
    Mountain (member Leslie West can be seen jamming at the beginning of the film)
    Ten Years After (only performed in Toronto - fantastic performances of I'm Goin' Home and Slow Blues In C were filmed, but lead guitarist and singer Alvin Lee wouldn't approve their appearance in the film, saying he thought his guitar was out of tune) (the source for this is Gavin Poolman, producer of the film, in May 2011)
    Traffic (only performed in Toronto - didn't ride the train; on the DVD, promoter Ken Walker states that Traffic was on the train but the band's record company wouldn't allow them to appear in the film. 2 performances were filmed anyway, however Steve Winwood's management refused permission for these to appear in the film) (the source for this is Gavin Poolman, producer of the film, in May 2011)
    The New Riders of the Purple Sage, which, in mid-1970, featured Jerry Garcia on pedal-steel guitar, as well as Mickey Hart as occasional percussionist. Although, John Dawson is seen in the notorious "Ain't No More Cane" scene, sitting on the couch with Rick Danko and Janis Joplin, as they work through several drunken verses of the tune. Buddy Cage can also be seen, performing as a member of Great Speckled Bird.


(wikipedia)

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The Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music was a music festival held at the Royal Bath and West Showground in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England on 27–28 June 1970.

Overview

The festival started at midday on the 27th (a Saturday) and finished at about 6:30 am on Monday morning. It featured a lineup of the top American west coast and British bands of the day, including Santana, The Flock, Led Zeppelin (headlining act), Hot Tuna, Country Joe McDonald, Colosseum, Jefferson Airplane (set aborted), The Byrds (acoustic set), Moody Blues (unable to play), Dr. John (acoustic set), Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention, Canned Heat, It's a Beautiful Day, Steppenwolf, Johnny Winter, John Mayall, Pink Floyd, Fairport Convention, and Keef Hartley.  This lineup eclipsed the more famous Isle Of Wight festival held in August of the same year, but as it attracted less press coverage at the time and was a smaller affair, it has generally received less attention in the years since.

Bath was the brainchild of promoter Freddy Bannister and his wife Wendy Bannister , who had held the smaller Bath Festival Of Blues within Bath itself in 1969. The 1970 show attracted a significantly larger crowd of 150,000, but, like the Isle of Wight festival, an audience of such magnitude created some serious on-ground difficulties. The logistics proved to be too vast for Bannister's small team to adequately cope with, and his security staff stole large amounts of gate receipts, resulting in a far smaller profit than expected.

Actually getting to the festival itself was another problem for many of the throng of fans. The country lanes leading to the site were swiftly blocked by cars, also meaning that many of the bands' equipment trucks could not get to the site. On Sunday morning this led to Donovan casually walking out onto the empty silent stage, to address the expectant but bored crowd -which were slowly drying out from the drenching received during the night. Being a folk singer, his genre was not what the crowd had gone there to hear. So to test the mood of the crowd out, he engaged in a bit of small talk, where he explained that he had spent the night in his van in a nearby field and so on. Then worked around to asking if they would like him to play a song whilst they waited for the billed act to arrive. A lively rendering of jump down, turn around, pick a bail of cotton raised the crowds spirits. Then he played some of his classics. As the crowd seemed to appreciate this, electric guitars, amps and a few reluctant musician (or rather stage-hands that knew a few chords) were pressed into accompany him. Still no bands came, so Donovan continued. His impromptu and free performance eventually filled in for a 2½ hours of what otherwise would have been silence.

As a consequence these delays, the festival ran behind schedule and many bands had to play to diminished crowds in the small hours of Monday morning. The last act, Dr John, hit the stage at dawn on the Monday.

The festival featured many innovations, including projections of the bands on screens on the side of the stage, a good quality PA system, on-site tents for the patrons to sleep in and larger tents which projected films such as King Kong throughout the night . The expenditure on these items ate into the profits, and many people decamped with the tents, which were hired. This was another expense that had to borne by the promoters.

The festival was captured on both film and on video, in varying quality, but a lack of post-festival organisation led to the footage being lost for many years. Much of it has now been recovered, but the black and white footage is of poor quality and is in many different hands. It is considered unlikely that it will ever see the light of day as a legitimate release since no one can agree on who owns the copyright. This situation could be contrasted to the Isle of Wight Festival, which was professionally recorded and filmed in colour.

The festival was widely bootlegged, and several audience tapes are now in circulation. It is rumoured that excellent soundboard tapes also exist, though to this point they have not publicly surfaced.

An 'alternative festival' was staged in an adjoining field where the Pink Fairies and Hawkwind played on the back of a flatbed truck.  This was a precursor to the many free festivals of the 1970s.

Jefferson Airplane performance

The festival also suffered from inclement weather on the Sunday night, with Jefferson Airplane being rained off half way through their set and The Moody Blues not playing at all due to the wet stage.

    "Volunteers"
    "Somebody to Love"
    "The Other Side Of This Life"
    "Won't You Try/Saturday Afternoon"
    "3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds"
    "Rock Me Baby"
    "The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil"

Led Zeppelin performance

Led Zeppelin accepted an offer from Bannister to headline the festival at a fee of £20,000. They took the stage at about 8:30 pm, as the sun was setting. The band's performance is widely considered by music critics, and members of Led Zeppelin itself, as being one of the most important of their career, representing a turning point in terms of the amount of recognition they received in Britain (until that point their on-stage success and popularity had largely been borne out on numerous United States concert tours). At Bath the band played for three hours and performed five encores.  Their setlist from the show is as follows:

    "Immigrant Song" (debut live performance)
    "Heartbreaker"
    "Dazed and Confused"
    "Bring It On Home"
    "Since I've Been Loving You"
    "Thank You"
    "That's the Way"
    "What Is and What Should Never Be"
    "Moby Dick"
    "How Many More Times"
    "Whole Lotta Love"
    "Communication Breakdown"
    Classic Rock Medley ("Long Tall Sally" - "Say Mama" - "Johnny B. Goode" - "That's Alright Mama")

Pink Floyd performance

At the concert, Pink Floyd premièred their new suite, "Atom Heart Mother", which at that time was announced as the "Amazing Pudding". The performance featured a complete brass band and 12 string choir, and took place at 3 am, due to major delays. As well as the Atom Heart Mother suite, the band also played tracks from Ummagumma, Soundtrack from the Film More and A Saucerful of Secrets. The band's set list from the show is as follows:

    "Green Is the Colour" (Gilmour/Waters)
    "Careful with That Axe, Eugene" (Waters, Gilmour, Wright, Mason)
    "A Saucerful of Secrets" (Waters, Gilmour, Wright, Mason)
    "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" (Waters)
    "The Amazing Pudding (Atom Heart Mother)" (Waters, Gilmour, Wright, Mason. Geesin)



(wikipedia)

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Grateful Dead from the Mars Hotel is the seventh studio album by the Grateful Dead. It was mostly recorded in April 1974 and originally released on June 27, 1974. It was the second release under the band's own label, Grateful Dead Records, after fulfilling their contract with Warner Bros. Records.

This was the final album before the band's hiatus from touring in October 1974 during which time the band would finish up the film editing of The Grateful Dead Movie.

Two songs from this album were rarely played live ("Unbroken Chain" was played 10 times in 1995; "Money Money" was played three times in May 1974) and one was never played live ("Pride of Cucamonga"). "Pride of Cucamonga" and "Unbroken Chain" are both songs sung by bassist Phil Lesh, making these Lesh's final lead vocal work for the Dead for over ten years.

When held upside down in front of a mirror, the graphic on the front of the album cover appears to say "Ugly Rumors". This inspired the name of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's band, Ugly Rumours.

Track listing

Original release

Side one

    "U.S. Blues" (Hunter, Garcia) – 4:42
    "China Doll" (Garcia, Hunter) – 4:10
    "Unbroken Chain" (Lesh, Peterson) – 6:46
    "Loose Lucy" (Garcia, Hunter) – 3:22

Side two

    "Scarlet Begonias" (Garcia, Hunter) – 4:19
    "Pride of Cucamonga" (Lesh, Peterson) – 4:17
    "Money Money" (Barlow, Weir) – 4:23
    "Ship of Fools" (Garcia, Hunter) – 5:27



(wikipedia)

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