What little acoustic/folk music you can find on "Festival Express" is in the "DVD extra features," not in the documentary itself. That's where you'll see and hear Tom Rush and Eric Anderson each doing a solo turn.

Now, I am by no means a folk purist, and I love this movie with or without those "extra" acoustic performances. In fact, after having rented it more than once, I broke down and bought a copy a few months back.

The DVD extras also include information on how this old footage was rediscovered and how the film was made many years later than originally planned. Copyright/permission issues were a big problem, which explains why some of the top-billed acts are completely absent from the film (e.g., Delaney and Bonnie and Friends). The most interesting point of information is that a huge number of hours of footage exist that still remain unseen except by the researchers and film editors.

My take on being disappointed by Ian and Sylvia: The film includes a "blues jam" on CC Rider, ostensibly performed by I&S and their band (the Great Speckled Bird, if I'm not mistaken); in reality, there are more "guest artists" on stage than actual band members, including pedal steel whiz Sneaky Pete and Jerry Garcia among others. I think it was filmed at the final stop on the tour as an effort to recreate sonme of the musical magic that had been taking place on the train, but it really didn't work. Sylvia was a very good singer, but by no means a blues singer, and the instrumentalists don't really come together very well, either.

On the other hand, there is a very nice Ian & Sylvia performance of Tears of Rage, accompanied only by Ian's acoustic guitar. But (I think) this performance is one of the "extras," not included int he film itself.

Steve, it's a shame that you missed the Dead in their heyday. People who "know" them only by reputation (as doped-up hippies, or whatever) are often unaware of their incredible musicianship, not to mention their very deep roots in the folk-music subculture. If you're interested, there are still plenty of "Deadhead" sites and discussions on the internet, not to mention huge stores of live recordings.

The song performed by Janis, Jerry, and Rick Danko in that oft-mentioned drunken jam was, by the way, "Ain't No More Cane on The Brazos." Just great!

Incidentally, this DVD is sold as a 2-disk set. The extra musical performances included in the DVD but not in the film itself are all on Disk One, along with some latter-day interviews and such. Disk Two is ALL talk, no music at all.