JEZZA has come a long way since he was forced to cancel Glastonbury festival last year following the Brexit vote and subsequent Blarite coup, ironically led by a man whose father became a regular speaker at the festival’s left-wing platform — the Left Field Stage.

Jeremy Corbyn was due to speak at that stage, one so frequented by the late great Tony Benn that a memorial for him was built outside the tent the year after his death as a left-wing voice of the Labour Party. However, with his MPs’ vote of no confidence in Corbyn, it looked as though the opportunity for him to speak had sailed.

This time last year, who would have bet against the very low odds that Corbyn would not only still be leader but one whose party is swelling with new members by the second? A lot can happen in a year.

Now the big JC is back, with a growing mandate not just from the grassroots of the party but from the general public too, addressing thousands at the festival’s main Pyramid Stage — pulling even bigger crowds than many headline acts.

Introducing him onto the stage, Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis said: “At last we have a Labour leader who can put in place all the issues we have been campaigning for for 40 years.”

Mr Corbyn threw down the election gauntlet, challenging PM Theresa May: “If she has the time this afternoon to be watching Glastonbury, we are ready for another election as soon as you like.

“The election didn’t deliver for the Tories. We’re not hearing so much about strong and stable now, we’re not hearing so much about a coalition of chaos.”

His historic address came just before progressive US rap duo Run The Jewels, who had been staunch backers of Corbyn’s “US equivalent” — the Democrat Bernie Sanders, a man that many have argued could well now be the US president had he been nominated over Hillary Clinton.

No sooner had Corbyn finished his Pyramid speech he went straight to the Left Field Stage to address another packed audience spilling out onto the paths outside the tent.

He told the crowd that the turning point of the election was Labour’s manifesto “for the many not the few.”

Reflecting on why he thought Labour’s election campaign was so successful he said: “If you’re confident in your ideas you’re not afraid to speak about them.”

Corbyn praised adviser Andrew Fisher as “a great thinker and fighter” for economic and social justice.

And he thanked shadow chancellor John McDonnell and shadow home secretary Diane Abbot: “They stood fast against the most unbelievable onslaught.

“The elite commentariat wrote us off because they believe the future is based on intrinsic inequality and great poverty.

“But people are fed up of being told how to think, being told that poverty is inevitable and that people are poor and homeless through their own fault.”

Coincidentally many of the #Grime4Corbyn acts were also in attendance this year performing on various stages. Chief grime Corbyn-supporter JME, a part of the Boy Better Know collective, headlined the Other Stage on Sunday night for those who’d rather give wet blanket Ed Sheeran a miss. Stormzy, who famously said: “My man Jeremy Corbyn. I dig what he says!” performed the penultimate set also on the Other Stage on Saturday.

During his performance Stormzy got the crowd chanting: “Ooh Jeremy Corbyn” to the tune of the White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army, which could be heard across the 900-acre site ever since the festival gates opened on Wednesday.

Stormzy also paid tribute to the victims of Grenfell tower.

And the lesser-known grime act AJ Tracey performed the electronic-orientated Sonic Stage on Friday night.

Although it was AJ Tracey that summed it up best about Corbyn, when, in an NM E interview a week before the election, he said: “In my opinion we need a Labour government to give young people hope, a chance for their future. And I genuinely believe that Corbyn is the man to do it.”

In signs that the festival is getting more progressive, this year marked a first for extreme metal. The lack of bands from the heavier fringes of rock at the festival has been an ongoing gripe for many Glasto-goers — well, at least for metal fans. Especially as comparatively sized festivals in Europe such as Denmark’s Roskilde have a full spectrum of genres from pop to metal.

Nevertheless it appeared though that some tattooed metaller had twisted Eavis’s arm as none other than Napalm Death performed — not very hippie but well within the spirit of the festival’s anti-nuclear credentials. Their set also included denunciations of domestic violence and child labour that “puts clothes on our back.”

And Earache records even had their own stage this year, Earache Express, which showcased other hard metal stalwarts such as Extreme Noise Terror, who performed a midnight set.

So it was a year of Corbyn, grime and extreme metal. The “best one yet” according to Emily Eavis, certainly a far cry from last year’s worst one yet.