Sarfraz Manzoor: Fringe 2012
Live Review
Assembly Rooms Fringe

In a canny move Manzoor issues a disclaimer at the top of his show lowering expectations by warning that he's not a stand-up, so there may well be a few tumbleweed moments and attacks of amnesia.

As a journalist he's all too aware of how he's likely to be judged, in fact it's a bit peculiar reviewing one of our own, all a bit too close to home.

That said Manzoor isn't just a Fringe reviewer. His is a lengthy, prestigious and varied journalism career that includes working for Channel 4 News and The Guardian among others.

But he doesn’t really need to worry about the show, he proves an affable host with an engaging and touching story to tell. He's not likely to be nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award, nor is he likely to be expecting one, that's not why he's here. He's got a book, his 2007 Greetings From Bury Park, to sell plus he has important work to do spreading the word of the church of Springsteen.

As a British Pakistani Muslim growing up in the very white environs of Luton in the Seventies and Eighties, he was very much in a minority. He struggles to fit in until his Sikh friend gives him a C60 audio tape of Bruce Springsteen. Something clicks and he's an instant convert.

Using Springsteen’s music and lyrics as a framework, he explains how the Boss helped him him through those most difficult times in his life as well as providing a soundtrack to the most joyous. Life experiences range from the grief at losing his father at a relatively early age to the birth of his daughter last year. It even helps as he tussles to find his place within his own religious identity.

But there are hazards to Springsteen worship; in following his rock star idol around Europe and, on occasion, in the US – as well as camping out so he could see him six times at Crystal Palace – he also potentially hindered his love life.

As he warned at the beginning, his performance skills aren't brilliant but he interacts with his crowd with ease – perhaps a result of his journalism experience. His jokes aren't likely to produce belly laughs but serve to lighten the mood, a breezy way in which to tell his story.  Though he does note that there are Springsteen in-jokes for fellow fans… but for someone who spent most of the Eighties listening to The Smiths they passed me by.

However he certainly knows how to spin an absorbing tale, in which the energy doesn't dip. There are none of the aforewarned tumbleweed moments nor any amnesia. It's an interesting, not to mention brave addition to the catalogue of work he's already clocked up in his 41 years.