LIOR celebrates 10 year milestone at QMF

LIOR vividly remembers his first appearance at the Queenscliff Music Festival. He had just released his debut album Autumn Flow and the reception he received here with not exactly what he had been expecting.

“I was just starting out and I really didn’t even know much about Queenscliff, I sort of thought it would be a little folky kind of festival. I was doing a solo show and I walked out onto the stage thinking I would be playing to a couple of hundred people and there were about 3,000 people there and I was absolutely terrified.

“I will never forget that because it was one of the first times that I had thought oh wow, this album is really connecting with people.”

That was exactly a decade ago. This month, the acclaimed singer and songwriter is preparing to take centre stage again to the mark Autumn Flow’s tenth anniversary. This time he is no misconception about what to expect when he gets to town.

“I love it, I sort of look at Queenscliff, Woodford and Port Fairy as my three favourite festivals in the sense that they do have a really inclusive and relaxed feel, the music is always eclectic and really well directed. I rate it as one of the top three in Australia for me.

“I’ve had such good times around Queenscliff so it was kind of natural that I bring the show down there,” he said.

Autumn Flow quickly captured the public’s imagination and far exceeded LIOR’S own expectations when it was released in 2005. The opening track ‘This Old Love’ received widespread acclaim and three ARIA nominations.

“I put it out independently and I self-funded it and had very modest expectations of it and it was just one of those beautiful moments where I was doing something for myself and if it connected with people it would be an added bonus. It moved on from me hoping to sell a couple of thousand copies so I could pay everyone back that I borrowed the money from just to do the album to going platinum.

“I never would have even dreamed of that and if you had told me that would be the case before I would have laughed at you.”

Some of Australia’s finest musicians have been assembled to help with the on-stage celebrations including Brett Hirst, Evan Mannell, Bree Van Reyk, Ben Edgar and Gerard Masters.
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“I have a great band and we will be doing the album back to back and I will just throw in a couple of extra numbers as well,” said LIOR.