Zappa’s forever favorite holiday tradition in The Big Apple gets a comprehensive full-bite treatment
It’s a well-known fact that Halloween was not only Frank Zappa’s favorite holiday, but he also made sure to prioritize making All Hallows’ Eve a concert tradition in New York City. Every year, Zappa would play a run of shows over multiple nights in the Big Apple during the Halloween holiday. This concert tradition most likely began in New Jersey in 1972, moved to Chicago in 1973, and by 1974, finally found its home in New York City. The annual event grew in popularity over the years, culminating in a huge film event in 1977—see Baby Snakes – The Movie, which was released in 1979—with its peak happening in 1978.
Zappa’s interaction with his New York audience is the stuff of legend, and the Halloween shows during 1978 reached a fever-pitch. Although he released Halloween show highlights over several albums during his lifetime, fans have waited decades for the unedited shows to be released in superior quality from the master tapes that had long been secluded in his famous Vault. Now, for the first time, the October 31, 1978 show is being released in a new deluxe Halloween 78 5 CD Super Deluxe Costume box set, after having been newly mixed and mastered from those original 24-track masters. The devilishly cool box, due October 24th via Zappa Records/UMe, will also feature a bonus performance from the opening show of the run from October 27, 1978.
Produced by Ahmet Zappa and Zappa Vaultmeister Joe Travers, Halloween 78 resurrects the Zappa costume box sets after five years underground and marks the fourth in the series, which began in 2017 with Halloween 77 (Frank Zappa costume) and includes 2019’s Halloween 73 (FRANKenZAPPA) and 2020’s Halloween 81 (Count Frankula). This time around, along with the full 5 CD concert, Zappa appears as the devil, complete with ‘70s-inspired mask, plus a pitchfork with a UV light, and a grimoire book featuring concert photos by Lynn Goldsmith, liners and technical notes by Travers, and bespoke artwork by Fantoon,s who also designed the mask. It should also be noted that the pitchfork’s UV light illuminates certain “secrets” within the packaging.
Zappa experimented with adding extended jams and older material on this Halloween 1978 date, with the show clocking in over three-and-a-half hours. He exclaimed, “This is it! This is the BIG ONE!” while addressing the crowd in his opening monologue. And it was big, for even though the tradition continued as the touring years went on, after 1978, the pace changed. There were no Halloween shows in 1979, and during 1980, Zappa unfortunately got sick and was unable to get through the scheduled shows, leading to cancellations. By 1981, although two shows had been videotaped with a live broadcast on the then-newly established MTV, the attitude and approach seemed to have a different feel, with more of a constructed atmosphere and less audience participation. The Halloween spectacle of 1978 seemed to be the pinnacle of an era.
In addition to the box set, there will be two separate vinyl releases and a single CD edition that each contain excerpted concert performances and booklets featuring the aforementioned photos and artwork. The two double-vinyl editions are perfectly suited for the holiday. The first 2 LP Halloween concert highlights set comes on 180-gram Candy Corn color vinyl with pop-out paper mask, gatefold packaging, and a booklet with rare photos and bespoke art, while the second 2 LP Halloween concert highlights edition arrives on 180-gram Blood Spatter color vinyl and is housed in gatefold packaging. A single CD Halloween concert highlights disc features 15 select performances from the mammoth four-hour concert, while the digital deluxe version offers all of the tracks in the 5 CD edition and a digital booklet.
The 2LP editions are available exclusively at Zappa.com, uDiscover Music, and Sound of Vinyl.
The all-hallowed Halloween 78 concert performance was filled with normal Zappa show favorites, extended instrumental improvisations, special added attractions, and career classics. During sections of the concert, Zappa was calling tunes out one at a time, sans a predetermined setlist. This particularly fiery performance of “Peaches En Regalia,” a true Zappa classic, was called off-the-cuff, with the band responding beautifully. Amidst all of the mayhem at hand was the indisputable musicianship. The band had been on tour since August 1978, and by the time the Halloween 78 run came around, they were primed and ready to rise to the challenge. Drummer Vinnie Colaiuta was new, having replaced Terry Bozzio, and in turn brought a new level of insanity to the group dynamic. Arthur Barrow was also newly employed on bass—but, interestingly, Zappa had also brought back Patrick O’Hearn to supply fretless bass for a small segment of the 1978 tour. Barrow and O’Hearn’s different styles complemented each other, with each player taking over during certain tunes or sections, in addition to sometimes playing in harmony with each other.
The two-headed-monster keyboard lineup of Peter Wolf and Tommy Mars was still intact from the year before. Denny Walley, returning from the Bongo Fury days, provided his own signature slide-guitar playing along with his impeccable humor, and also picked up the singing slack left by the departure of singer Ike Willis. In his second year, Ed Mann provided the all-important layer of percussion.
L. Shankar, the amazing violinist, was a special guest throughout the run. His inclusion was a gleaming highlight, weaving in and out of improvisatory events, accompanying Zappa on guitar. Zappa prioritized Shankar various times throughout the multi-night engagement, most notably on the massive Halloween show closer, “Black Napkins/The Deathless Horsie.” Zappa even gave him the nickname “The Bionic Parrot,” in tribute to Shankar’s chosen costume for the shows. Another special event was when Zappa brought Warren Cuccurullo to the stage. He and Warren had established a friendship over the touring years after meeting in 1976 (thanks to Zappa’s sound engineer, Davy Moire). By ’78, Warren was a part of Zappa’s inner circle—and, after Zappa’s fancy had been tickled with a wild tale about a chance meeting in NYC with a character named “Ms. X,” Zappa insisted Warren appear to recite the story on Halloween night. Actress and comedian Laraine Newman also came out onstage. They had just recently worked together on Saturday Night Live, with Zappa famously participating in a Coneheads skit.
“Ancient Armaments,” which is available to stream and download now, was the opening gambit of the epic four-hour Halloween 1978 concert extravaganza. During this time, FZ would start the shows with an improvised guitar solo, and every night was different. FZ liked this performance so much that he released an edited version of the song as the B-side to his “I Don’t Want To Get Drafted” single in 1980. On Halloween 78, we have the complete unedited version of “Ancient Armaments,” newly mixed and mastered, in all its spontaneous glory.
Zappa worked with the band during soundcheck that afternoon, adding extended jams and older material into the set, squeezing in as much as they could to make the evening as special as possible. And the ensuing repertoire did not disappoint, with the main setlist chock full of Zappa standards. Songs like “Suicide Chump,” “Easy Meat,” “Keep It Greasy,” and “The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing” had yet to be included on an album release. Additional highlights include the mega-jam “Thirteen” (a significant and re-occurring solo vamp throughout the entire Halloween run) and an early version of “Packard Goose,” before its iconic recording for 1979 Joe’s Garage.
Seeing how the Halloween 78 performance clocks in at almost four hours, that show’s length alone tells you just how dedicated Frank Zappa was to delivering an unprecedented amount of material in one evening. In essence, the full breadth of Halloween 78 serves as a huge “thank you” to his audience for enduring the previous year’s film shoot, as well as recognizing the years and years of support that turned Halloween into the FZ-favored and flavored tradition it had become. Or, as The Maestro put it himself when he opened the show, “Happy Halloween, everybody!”
CD 1: Live At The Palladium, NYC / 10-31-78
1. 10-31-78 Show Start
2. Ancient Armaments
3. “Happy Halloween Everybody!”
4. Dancin’ Fool
5. Easy Meat
6. Honey, Don’t You Want A Man Like Me?
7. Keep It Greasy
8. The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing
9. City Of Tiny Lites
10. Pound For A Brown
11. Thirteen
12. The Story Of Ms. X
13. Nancy
CD 2: Live At The Palladium, NYC / 10-31-78 Continued
1. Dinah-Moe Humm
2. Go Cry On Somebody Else’s Shoulder
3. Little Rubber Girl
4. The Idiot Bastard Son
5. Bobby Brown Goes Down
6. Conehead
7. Suicide Chump
8. Little House I Used To Live In
9. Watermelon In Easter Hay
10. Stink-Foot
CD 3: Live At The Palladium, NYC / 10-31-78 Continued
1. Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance
2. Peaches En Regalia
3. Strictly Genteel
4. Sofa #2
5. Packard Goose
6. Magic Fingers
7. Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow
8. Nanook Rubs It
9. St. Alfonzo’s Pancake Breakfast
10. Father O’Blivion
11. Rollo
12. Camarillo Brillo
13. Muffin Man
14. Black Napkins / The Deathless Horsie
CD 4: Live At The Palladium, NYC / 10-27-78 – Show 1
1. 10-27-78 Show 1 Opening
2. Dancin’ Fool
3. Easy Meat
4. Honey, Don’t You Want A Man Like Me?
5. Keep It Greasy
6. The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing
7. City Of Tiny Lites
8. A Pound For A Brown
9. Bobby Brown Goes Down
10. Conehead
11. Dance Contest
CD 5: Live At The Palladium, NYC / 10-27-78 – Show 1 Continued
1. The Black Page #2
2. Dance Contest Aftermath
3. Little House I Used To Live In
4. Magic Fingers
5. Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow
6. Nanook Rubs It
7. St. Alfonzo’s Pancake Breakfast
8. Father O’Blivion
9. Rollo
10. “Let Me Explain This To You. . .”
11. Dinah-Moe Humm
12. Camarillo Brillo
13. Muffin Man
14. Peaches En Regalia
