After the highs of Sevilla’s Feria de Abril, the opening corrida of this year’s Feria de San Isidro - a supposed magnificent opening of the series and one of the first events to sell out - was like a bucket of cold water for the hopeful aficionado.

The corrida featured La Quinta bulls for El Juli and Andrés Roca Rey and the alternativa of Álvaro Alarcón. The alternativa - part of Plaza 1’s contractual obligations - was essentially a sideshow; the main interest was in how El Juli and Roca Rey would perform with the prestigious santacolomas.

As a matter of fact, very little was achieved. The best toreo of the afternoon was El Juli’s controlled and templados muletazos to his buoyant first bull, performed to a divided house - Tendido 7 making clear their disapproval whilst the rest of the plaza applauded. At the faena’s end, Julián stood his ground in a series, contorting his body to allow the bull past, increasing 7’s displeasure. A poor sword and a fine descabello led to an ovation and saludos, while the bull was dragged out to pitos.

Julián lost his capote to his second bull and never got to grips with it in the opening tercio. The animal proved soggy in the faena and the matador didn’t cope with it very well either, although the estoque went in to the hilt. Silence.

By this time, the atmosphere in the plaza had sunk: indeed it was flat after a lack of quites to Roca Rey’s first bull. The tall young matador had managed some curving muleta passes, but the bulk of the faena involved passing the bull at a distance and in straight lines, Andrés stepping away from his opponent in between passes - pegando pases in other words. A poor performance (Tendido 7 again made their negative feelings clear), although worse was to come. The Peruvian’s second La Quinta was one of two reasonable animals today, but it and its matador were on different wavelengths despite a few close, turning muletazos. A metisaca and estocada led to Roca Rey’s second silence of the afternoon. Steady downward streams began of people leaving the plaza despite there being one more bull in the toriles.

In some ways, this was a typical Madrid corrida - complaints about the bulls before the corrida had even begun; two figuras whose efforts were noisily criticised from the get-go; division in the plaza; and sympathy for the modesto on the bill.

*Álvaro Alarcón performed well with the bull of his alternativa but faces an uncertain future*

Álvaro Alarcón has had a difficult 2023. He and his managers parted company after only a month together at the start of the year and a novillada here in Madrid involved a serious cogida that left him with three broken ribs. He was appearing today with his injuries yet to heal and against doctors’ advice. He did well with his first bull, dedicated to the public, although the animal’s charges on its right horn soon shortened radically and Álvaro had to switch the cloth to the left hand, bringing off an excellent first series of naturales whose quality he struggled to reproduce thereafter. He closed with naturales given with the right hand and a decent estocada to win an ovation.

The new matador’s last bull was the only one to receive Tendido 7’s applause on entry to the ring. José Chacón’s banderillas were one of the afternoon’s few highlights, winning an ovation. His matador tried hard but struggled in the faena, the bull hooking in passes, the wind coming up and affecting the muleta, and the crowd bored with a performance that went on far too long. A respectable estocada and two descabellos were accompanied by an aviso.

Alarcón and El Juli left the ring to applause while Roca Rey heard whistles. San Isidro’s opening grand event had turned out to be a damp squib.

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