Eat in the Park 2024: Buxton festival review

Review: Eat in the Park took place in Buxton on 17 and 18 August 2024.

Eat in the Park Music & Food Festival returned to the Pavilion Gardens for its fourth year on August 17th and 18th 2024, proving once again why it has become a staple event in Buxton’s calendar. Dubbed the ‘UK’s tastiest tribute festival,’ EITP has earned a reputation for delivering award-winning tribute acts, an array of international food vendors, and family-friendly fun, all set in the heart of the town’s famous park.

Since its first Buxton event in 2021, Eat in the Park had grown in popularity. The 2024 festival offered music, food and activities for a wide range of ages.

This year’s layout remained largely the same, with the Main Stage, Buxton Brewery Tent, and EITP Dance Tent providing the primary music venues. Meanwhile, there was a great selection of food and drink stalls with what felt like even more choice than in previous years, and plenty of gluten free offerings. With everything from Indian and Thai to Jamaican Jerk Chicken, freshly made burgers, Greek, and more, ensuring that no one went hungry. If you love loaded fries, you would have been in the right place as a lot of stalls seemed to be doing them. Perhaps not doing your diet many favours but it was all about having a good time so who cares?

The music lineup did not disappoint! Saturday kicked off with Cheap Shades, whose return from last year’s Buxton Brewery Tent performance was met with lots of enthusiasm. Red Hot Chili Peppers UK played their well known hits. Over in the local music tent, Radio Memphis swept us away with a nostalgic wave of vintage southern rock and soul. Local faves The A’ups ramped up the tempo in the afternoon with their signature pop/rock mash-ups, getting everyone on their feet and Young Elton was clearly a big crowd pleaser, closing out Saturday’s Main Stage with a captivating performance.

The EITP (Dance) Tent was back in full swing, serving up every kind of repetitive beat and dance music genre you could imagine. With local legends Soundboy, Mez and others at the helm playing house, Hacienda and rave classics, drum and bass, jungle, Northern Soul, and more. The addition of a small bar in the dance tent was a nice touch, saving festival-goers a trip back to the main site. The hardcore classics were especially fun to dance to, although, truth be told, we had to take regular breaks because at our age, it felt more like a boot camp workout than a rave!

One of the highlights of EITP 2024 was the abundance of bars across the site, minimising queue times – a major win for thirsty festival-goers. The main stage area did have some congestion with chairs, despite the introduction of a ‘chair-free zone,’ which we thought could be expanded for a future edition.

Sunday saw the Manchester Ska Foundation reinvigorate the crowd, with Purple Cloud of Funk at tea time delivering an unforgettable set that included a surprise choir performance of The Verve’s Bittersweet Symphony which brought the house down. The festival’s finale, featuring Rule the World + Dann Budd as Robbie Williams, was an absolute showstopper. Dann Budd’s Robbie was almost indistinguishable from the real thing, and the ‘Gary Barlow’ of the gang was, well, very Gary Barlow, the facial expressions, voice and all! They sounded very convincing, and more importantly the crowd absolutely loved it. The band really engaged with the audience too – a perfect end to what’s been another great EITP.

Visit Peak District & Derbyshire says the festival took a break in 2026 and is expected to return in 2027, with dates to be confirmed. See Visit Peak District & Derbyshire for updates.