Attention Swifties! Almost Taylor tribute coming to aquatorium

Almost Taylor and opener Mallory Bozovich will perform Saturday as part of the Rockin’ on the Mon Summer Concert series.

By MATT PETRAS
For the MVI

In the spirit of reaching a younger audience, the Monongahela Aquatorium this Saturday will host a tribute to Taylor Swift called Almost Taylor, opened by Mallory Bozovich, a local talent influenced by Swift.

Gates open for the $10 show at 6:30 p.m. Tanya Chaney, head organizer of the “Rockin’ on the Mon” summer concert series, told the Mon Valley Independent in June that she wanted to enlist Almost Taylor to help bring in a younger crowd.

Aly McGuire, based in Atlanta, Ga., has for about a year and a half utilized her community theater background and extreme love of Swift to complete her Almost Taylor persona, which started as a joke, she admitted.

“One of my dearest and closest friends said, ‘Ali, you look just like Taylor. We should do a photo shoot as Taylor for fun,’” Mc-Guire said. “And then it snowballed from there.”

In paying tribute to Swift, McGuire studies advanced choreography, changes into a dozen outfits and, of course, meticulously hones her own version of the music.

“Musically, I was able to add my own elements into it without taking away from her faithful, original vocals,” McGuire said.

Swift concert tickets go for incredibly high prices, so Almost Taylor concerts allow fans to see something similar for a much more affordable entrance fee. Mc-Guire herself missed the Eras Tour because of the recent birth of her child, she said, but added that she has seen just about every concert video clip available online.

“We never pretend to actually be Taylor. That would be chaotic,” McGuire said. “But what we do is we bring the community and the joy and the world that she has cultivated, and we get to relive the magic. We get to do this for kids that maybe didn’t get to go to the show like me.”

Mallory Bozovich, a regular opener at the Aquatorium, has recently assembled a full band to back up her vocals and acoustic guitar playing. Her uncle Randy Roberts joins on lead guitar along with Ryan Luko on drums and Bob Giacometti on bass.

“It’s a totally new sound, so we’re really excited to show that off,” Bozovich said.

Bozovich, now 17 and an incoming sophomore at Wheeling University, got into music in part because of a love for Swift’s music. Her music and lyrics have evolved over the years, just like Swift’s, she said.

“I think I’ve strayed less away from the pop, but I’m now more open to folk and Americana music, and I’ve been listening to much more, Taylor included, but also songs that remind of the Folklore and Evermore albums,” Bozovich said. “It’s really opened my eyes when it comes to writing as well as performing.”

Bozovich has seen two Swift concerts, and her amazement at the shows has influenced her own performances.

“Seeing her show is much more than the music, just the costume changes and the way she takes the crowd and gets their attention for four and a half hours is crazy because nobody performs for that long,” Bozovich said. “So just taking a little bit of inspiration from maybe less the music but the stage presence has been a really cool thing to try to incorporate myself.”