Cruel Summer, all-star local Taylor Swift cover band performs at Mercy High Saturday

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — A Taylor Swift concert at a high school is probably the dream of many “Swifties” in the Greater Rochester Area. While the TIME Person of the Year is not donning the sparkles in Rochester, the next best thing is happening:

An all-star local cover band, Cruel Summer, is playing at Our Lady of Mercy High School Saturday at 6:30 p.m.

Mercy High will be opening up their 900-seat performance center for a rare open-to-the-public performance. You can get tickets here.

As for the band, they craft a setlist for a condensed version of the world-famous “ERAS” tour. The band itself is led by Alyssa Coco and Matt Merritt of “Roses & Revolutions” fame. The band has a self-titled release planned for later this year.

“We started this project because we would do covers a lot at shows, we would do Taylor Swift a lot, and people would say ‘you sound just like Taylor Swift,'” said Coco in News 8’s Studio B. “And we thought we should do this for real. It’s rare that you can get to cover someone’s music that you just adore every single song.

“It’s been amazing to see everyone come together, in honor of Taylor’s music,” she said “It’s empowering, it’s just a room full of great vibes, it’s all different ages, it’s so wonderful.”

The students at Mercy at a got sneak peek earlier this week. Coco and Merritt performed a surprise acoustic set at the school.

Coco says that it took a while to get in the groove on stage “as” Swift, rather than performing her originals. Coco — who is known for prominent national talent show auditions and for being the voice of many local commercial jingles — has even incorporated costume changes into the “era” changes.

The band also features Levi Bennett, both a beloved faculty member at Vertus and powerhouse drummer , and a rotating cast to fill out the lineup.

If you also want to catch the band in a more traditional music venue, they are playing Essex in Rochester May 3rd , with music from Swift’s upcoming album.

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