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Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo cracks and duets with fan on TikTok after nearly 1000 requests

By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 28 February 2023

Is it easy to get the attention of Rivers Cuomo from Weezer? No. Is it possible? Yes. Persistence is key. That’s what guitarist Evan Marselli found out when he decided to post of a TikTok video of himself playing a riff from Weezer’s ‘Buddy Holly’ every day until the band’s frontman agreed to duet with him on the video-sharing platform.

It’s a nice idea, but how quickly would you throw in the towel? After a month? Six months? A year? Well, Marselli kept going for nearly three years before Cuomo relented.

Marselli posted his 990th video yesterday, at which point it was clear that his enthusiasm for the project was waning a little. “The real question is, do I remain committed to the bit after day 1000? If Rivers doesn’t do it on day 1000, do I still keep going?” he asked.

He then appealed to his 15,000 followers for advice. But here’s the thing, people, we will never know the answer to that question. Why? Because Cuomo only went and did it. After 990 posts, Cuomo finally joined in, matching Marselli’s playing of the guitar lick in a duet video.

In a new post this morning, Marselli shared a video of himself playing nothing and then switching off his amp, commenting: “Well damn. It’s finally come to an end. Thanks to everyone who’s followed me and supported me along the way. What should I post on here now?”

Well, he could post videos of himself practising playing the song some more, because Cuomo didn’t just duet with Marselli on TikTok, he also laid down his own challenge.

“Challenge you to come play this live on Weezer’s ‘Indie Rock Road Trip’ tour this summer”, he wrote. “My people will reach out to your people”.

So I guess you could say that turned out well. It does seem like quite a lot of effort to go to though, even if he does get a spot on stage. And I think we’d all like to know exactly when Cuomo became aware of Marselli’s quest and whether he knowingly kept him waiting. Did he first see one of Marselli’s videos on day 989 – or sometime earlier? Maybe this could be discussed at the gig.