text: The film was released theatrically on July 23, 2004, in the United States, as well as in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Scandinavia.
  Home media
  A two-disc DVD for Region 1 was released on November 2, 2004, by New Line Home Video.
  A two-disc DVD for Region 4 was released in Australia in 2005 by
  Magna Pacific.
  A Blu-ray disc for Region 1 was released in 2014 by Shout Factory.
  Box-office reception
  The film earned $1.2 million at the US Box Office, and the DVD went straight in at number 1 on the Music Video & Concert DVD top-sellers charts at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Tower Records, etc., and has had an average customer review rating of 4.5 stars out of 5.  According to Rotten Tomatoes, Festival Express was the second most critically acclaimed film released in 2004.
  Legacy
  Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros joined The Railroad Revival Tour in April 2011 with Mumford and Sons and Old Crow Medicine Show. Traveling in vintage rail cars, the three bands performed in six "unique outdoor locations" over the course of a week starting in Oakland, California. The musical documentary Big Easy Express, which was made of the trip and directed by Emmett Malloy, premiered March 2012 at the South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival (SXSW Film) in Austin, Texas.