the age of 50 , throughout the 3-day festival weekend in southwestern England . Festival-goers woke to an unexpectedly somber first day of Glastonbury , Friday , as the news of Jackson 's death began to sink in . See images of reactions to the star 's death from around the world '' Rumors of the singer 's death had circulated the isolated 900-acre site the previous evening , but many fans had dismissed them as the hearsay and misinformation that thrives each year in the site which has no TV or Internet-access . Confusion quickly turned to shock for many , as Jackson 's music played in festival bars and news of his demise spread by cell phone . `` It 's totally weird , '' Sally Anne Aldous , 29 , told CNN on Thursday night . `` People are just getting text messages saying ` Michael Jackson is dead . Michael Jackson is dead . ' '' With a laid-back focus on mainly alternative music , the Glastonbury festival -- expected to attract as many as 137,000 music-lovers -- is not a venue where people would normally expect to hear Jackson 's music . Watch more reaction
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Stars at the legendary Glastonbury , one of the world 's largest music festivals , have begun to pay tribute to Michael Jackson , who died Thursday . Glastonbury at Worthy Farm in Somerset is the world 's largest music festival . Singer Pharell Williams of U.S. group N.E.R.D acknowledged the music icon 's legacy as his band played on the English festival 's main stage , the Pyramid Stage . `` The music was so incredible and what he and Quincy Jones did was change music and the way people looked at music , '' Williams was quoted as saying on the BBC 's Glastonbury Web site . Teenage Australian singer Gabriella Cilmi was the first artist at the festival to pay tribute to Jackson , Friday , singing a few bars of song `` Billie Jean '' during her set . Organizer Emily Eavis wrote on her Twitter site : `` So sad to hear the news about MJ . There will be tributes all over the site all weekend . `` A truly great artist . '' Other artists are expected to honor the singer , who died of a cardiac arrest at