Live Biz Legend Ron Delsener Gets His Own Documentary

Concert industry legend Ron Delsener, who turns 90 next year, is the subject of the upcoming documentary Ron Delsener Presents, which peels back the curtain on his remarkable career in music. The film was directed by Jake Sumner, produced by RadicalMedia and will be released in theaters May 30 through Abramorama. SPIN exclusively premieres the trailer below.

Delsener helped organize the Beatles’ 1964 concert at New York’s Forest Hills Tennis Stadium and became the dominant live event producer in the area for more than four decades. Among the stars celebrating his life in Ron Delsener Presents are Billy Joel, Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt, Jon Bon Jovi, Art Garfunkel, Paul Simon, Lenny Kaye, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Verdine White, Bette Midler, the late Jimmy Buffett and Cher.

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Delsener, who retired in 2022 and remains a fixture at New York concerts, contributed a host of his own memorabilia to the film, including old contracts, vintage film footage and Village Voice ads for his events. Longtime Beastie Boys collaborator Money Mark crafted the original score.

“As someone who was there in the early days and involved with booking the Beatles, Bob Dylan and Harry Belafonte at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium, to organizing a network of regional promoters for what would eventually go on to become the multinational entertainment giant Live Nation, Ron’s career spans the story of how live music became what it is today,” Sumner says. “From infamously auctioning off the Beatles’ dirty bedsheets and cigarette butts left in their hotel room in 1964, to maneuvering a little known act called David Bowie into Carnegie Hall in 1972, to turning an old vaudeville theater on 14th sSreet into New York’s iconic Palladium, hosting acts like Patti Smith, Frank Zappa and the Clash; Ron recounts how the Wild West of live music became a cultural phenomenon — and for better or worse — the multibillion dollar enterprise it is today. Perhaps the biggest feather in Ron’s cap is bringing Simon and Garfunkel together for their reunion in Central Park, an event that simply would not have been possible without Ron’s mastery of the telephone. For all of Ron’s bravado and without having any musical ability whatsoever, Ron is someone that has brought joy through music to generations of people.”

Sumner adds that Ron Delsener Presents “is not just a biography, nor is it purely a historical document. It’s a patchwork of stories and moments, the peaks and valleys of a singular figure, backed up by some other iconic voices from the world of music, and set to some of the greatest live performances of all time.”

To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.