Frank Zappa’s famous 1978 Halloween show at New York City’s Palladium will be released as a box set on October 24th.
The Super Deluxe Edition of the set will feature 62 tracks on five CDs and will be packaged in a special box that includes a Zappa devil mask, a pitchfork with light and a book featuring rare photos and memorabilia.
In addition to the October 31st, 1978, concert at the Palladium, “Halloween 78” also includes the first concert from October 27th, which served as a run-up to the Halloween night performance. Zappa and his band — drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, bassists Arthur Barrow and Patrick O’Hearn, keyboardists Peter Wolf and Tommy Mars, guitarist Denny Walley, percussionist Ed Mann and violinist L. Shankar — performed the nearly four-hour Halloween concert in 1978 without a set list.
Throughout the performance, he led the group through favorites like “Dancin’ Fool,” “Peaches En Regalia” and “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow.” The show also featured some songs that had not been on Zappa recordings, including “Suicide Chump,” “Easy Meat,” “Keep It Greasy” and “The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing.”
listen too “Ancient Armaments” from the upcoming “Halloween 78“
The audio on this is amazing. “Ancient Armaments” was a frequent opener for Zappa shows during that era (as were other instrumental songs like “The Deathless Horsie”, “Persona Non Grata”, “The Purple Lagoon”, and “Twenty One”). Frank Zappa and his band played shows to please his audience ..and he always did. Almost 4 hours is something mostly unheard of, as many bands play the same 90 minute set from town to town. Not Frank though. He was always mixing things up and (according to band member interviews) would often not even have written the setlist until the day before/the day of the show. Frank played 2 shows at the Palladium on October 27th (matinee and evening shows), 2 shows at the Palladium on October 28th (matinee and evening shows), 1 show on October 29th and then the Halloween show on October 31st consisting of 36 songs! No show had the same setlist although most shows did include the obligatory Big Hit Single “Dancin’ Fool” . Really looking forward to hearing this complete “Halloween 78” release.
Halloween was Zappa’s favourite holiday; he staged annual concerts to celebrate the event, beginning in 1972 with a performance in New Jersey. In 1973, Zappa and his band performed in Chicago; in 1974, he began hosting the Halloween shows in New York.
“Halloween 78” marks the fourth special box set to include Zappa’s famous Halloween concerts, previously released have been “Halloween 77” came out in 2017, followed by “Halloween 73” in 2019 and 2020’s “Halloween 81″.
Two vinyl versions and a single CD edition will also be available.
The Fat Angel Sings 