Frank Zappa’s 1978 Halloween Show Getting Boxed Up for Release

Frank Zappa's 1978 Halloween show at New York City's Palladium will be released as a box set on Oct. 24.

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.

You can hear "Ancient Armaments" from the upcoming Halloween 78 box below.

Listen to Frank Zappa's 'Ancient Armaments (Live at the Palladium, NYC - 10/31/78)

In addition to the Oct. 31, 1978, concert at the Palladium, Halloween 78 also includes the first concert from Oct. 27, which served as a run-up to the Halloween night performance.

READ MORE: Frank Zappa, 'Funky Nothingness' Review

Halloween 78 marks the fourth special box set to include Zappa's famous Halloween concerts. Halloween 77 came out in 2017, followed by Halloween 73 in 2019 and 2020’s Halloween 81.

Halloween was Zappa's favorite 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 Halloween shows in New York.

What's on Frank Zappa's 'Halloween 78'?

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."

Two vinyl versions and a single CD edition will also be available. You can see the track listing for the five-disc Super Deluxe Edition of Zappa's Halloween 78 below.

Frank Zappa, 'Halloween 78' Track Listing
Disc 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

Disc 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

Disc 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

Disc 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

Disc 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