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Viral TikToker finally joins Weezer on stage

By | Published on Friday 16 June 2023

Rivers Cuomo TikTok duet

Nearly four months after being invited to join Weezer on stage, guitarist Evan Marsalli has finally performed ‘Buddy Holly’ with the band. Which might seem like a long wait. Although, given that it took him almost three years of constant badgering to get that invite, maybe not so much.

Marsalli was never actually angling for an invitation to physically join Weezer on stage. He just wanted Rivers Cuomo to duet with him on TikTok. Starting in 2020, he posted a video of himself playing a riff from ‘Buddy Holly’ every day until the band’s frontman agreed to duet with him on the video-sharing platform.

Due to either ignorance or sadism on Cuomo’s part, this project lasted 990 days before he came and joined in. Good news for Marsalli, because as the 1000 post milestone grew nearer, his enthusiasm was clearly waning. “If Rivers doesn’t do it on day 1000, do I still keep going?” he asked his followers the day that Cuomo finally relented.

As well as bringing the project to its conclusion, Cuomo also wrote alongside his video: “Challenge you to come play this live on Weezer’s ‘Indie Rock Road Trip’ tour this summer. My people will reach out to your people”.

That was in February, and this week – as the tour reached Madison, Wisconsin – Marsalli was able to meet that challenge, appearing on stage with the band to play ‘Buddy Holly’ with them.

Posting on Twitter alongside a short video of the occasion, Weezer wrote: “After 990 videos and one duet [Evan Marsalli] finally took to the stage to play ‘Buddy Holly’ last night in Madison, WI!”

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