Industry Noize: Delsener Gets Honored, Won't Retire

Promoter Ron Delsener will be added to the Long Island Music Hall of Fame Oct. 23, inducted by his “nephew,” Roger Waters.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame interview.

Delsener is one of many who will be feted at the red carpet gala at The Paramount in Huntington, N.Y. Others include Clive Davis, Kurtis Blow, Debbie Gibson and the band that helped Billy Joel land all those hits.

Delsener, who brought shows to New York’s Central Park and Jones Beach Marine Theatre, sold his company Delsener/Slater to SFX Entertainment in 1996 and still chairs Live Nation’s New York operations. One of his earlier accomplishments was charging fans $1 to see Led Zeppelin in Central Park, and one of his latest was bringing Neil Young to Carnegie Hall. He’s been associated with Waters since the Pink Floyd days and promoted Waters’ most recent, spectacular tour.

“It’s still in my blood,” he recently told Newsday. “My father retired at 70 and he said he made a mistake. He said, ‘Never retire.’ … I’m never gonna retire. I’m gonna die with my boots on.”

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