Raju's friends were not at the concert nor was Raju himself.
1. Neither Raju's friends nor Raju was at the concert.
2. Neither Raju nor his friends were at the concert.
Kooyeen wrote: ... the vast majority of native speakers would find #2 much more natural because the plural verb in #2 (=were) agrees with what comes immediately before (...friends were...).
If that's the case, #1 is also correct because the singular verb in #1 (was) agrees with what comes immediately before (...Raju was...).
Do you agree?