Azpeitia, August 1: The day Morante came to town
In his quest to achieve a minimum of 100 corridas this European temporada, Morante de la Puebla is appearing in a number of places where he has never set foot before. And so it came to pass that today, a quarter of a century after his alternativa, Morante, head uncovered, walked across the grey sand of the famous compact bullring up in the Basque hills in his first Azpeitia paseíllo.
Despite the noticeable French attendance, the entradas at Azpeitia to date had been disappointing compared with previous years, but today was a full house. Many people took advantage of the fact that, to reach the patio de cuadrillas, the toreros have to walk through the public, and so obtained a close-up photo of Morante, ideally with themselves in it as well. There was speculation as to which traje he would choose to wear for the occasion - in the event, it was an attractive white-and-black suit with blue details, together with a royal blue sash and tie and a waistcoat in blue and gold.
The domecq bulls of La Palmosilla were also making their debut at Azpeitia. A superb string had excelled at Pamplona earlier in July: these animals were not up to that standard, but gave all of today’s toreros opportunities to succeed and were very similar in appearance, each of them with forward pointing horns.
To my mind, and that of a minority of spectators, Morante should have been awarded an ear for his lidia of the opening bull. He greeted the animal with a languid larga, then - in one of a number of suertes today that reminded one of times gone by - dodged it in several chicuelina-like quiebros before standing upright for verónicas, chicuelinas proper and a media verónica given with the feet together.
After a dedication to the public, Morante began the faena giving passes while leaning against the barrera. Initial muletazos on each hand indicated this was a bull that would lend itself to a complete faena, and that proved be the case as, now in los medios, Morante delighted us with series of derechazos and naturales (some, admittedly, enganches). There were molinetes, pases ayudados and other suertes to provide variety, the matador coming away from each tanda with a satisfied look on his face. He even had time to crack a joke with the nearby spectators before entering for the kill - a half sword that required a descabello to finish things, Morante receiving an ovation, the bull (which had been a bit weak-legged) pitos.
With his second palmosilla, the capework was brief, but did include some verónicas. This bull pushed strongly in the peto and the picador received applause, as did Juan José Trujillo for his banderillas. This time, Morante stuck to classic passes - derechazos, naturales and pases de pecho - in the faena. The animal proved difficult to bring forward, but then Morante chose not to cross the line of charge either. Two pinchazos and an estocada caída led on to a further minority petition, even smaller than before. Morante was then persuaded to take a vuelta, the crowd showing its appreciation for the sevillano’s Azpeitia afternoon.
At the start of the proceedings, Daniel Luque was given an award to mark his being adjudged triunfador of Azpeitia’s previous feria in 2019. He proved to be the true triunfador this afternoon as well, and in the running to maintain his feria status for a further year.
However, this was not one of Daniel’s great performances, such as the one that had occurred two days earlier in El Puerto de Santa María, and he seemed somewhat tetchy with his cuadrilla and the noisier elements of the crowd (perhaps he was tired from journeying from one end of Spain to the other). With his first palmosilla, he was indecisive with the capote; the bull took an unplanned vara, then experienced a chaotic tercio de banderillas. Order finally came in the faena, begun with half-kneeling pases ayudados, Luque going on to produce worthwhile series with each hand before closing with luquesinas and poor swordwork and taking saludos. His faena to his other bull was a lengthy one, so scrappy at first that Daniel asked the band to cease playing when it struck up. That having been achieved, the series improved immensely! Luque gave some superb naturales, derechazos and chest passes, signalling to the band that music would be appropriate after all. There were more luquesinas to finish and, this time, the volapié was magnificent, the sword going in to the hilt. Given the journey that had taken place before Luque had this bull in his pocket, the president’s decision to award the sevillano two ears rather than one, however, came as a surprise.
The third torero on the bill was Diego Carretero, the albaceteño taking part in only his second corrida of the season, a tienta injury having ruled out his contracted appearance in San Isidro. The youngster’s initial faena consisted of slow passes to a weak-legged animal that doesn’t transmit. The bull was downed by a transverse estocada. Determined to do well, he met the last bull of the feria - the best palmosilla of the afternoon - with a larga cambiada de rodillas, chicuelinas, a media verónica and a revolera. The faena was irregular, Diego not always being able to cope with his keen opponent, but had its good moments, particularly a series of ayudados por alto. The bull was caped to the ground after a media estocada, and a strong petition brought Carretero an ear.