FIREWORKS won’t be the only stars shining tomorrow night. Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular has lined up a constellation of luminaries to celebrate America’s big 231.
The stellar event kicks off at 9 p.m. with Martina McBride singing her hit song “Anyway” at Top of the Rock in Rockefeller Center.
“This world’s gone crazy / it’s hard to believe / that tomorrow will be better than today / believe it anyway,” sings the multiplatinum recording artist in her moving, spiritual tune.
“Part of what the song is about is being able to live in a country where you can dream and chase your dreams and live freely,” she told The Post.
“I read the paper and I watch the news, and I get all freaked out about everything that is going on in the world. This song talks about how things will get better – there are good things, too. We can celebrate our freedom.
“I’m genuinely excited that I get to participate in this,” McBride continues. “Performing at the Top of Rock, opening the show, my song – it’s a new experience, and I can’t wait. I love it!”
This is McBride’s first time playing the Macy’s July Fourth show. Her only butterflies seem to involve wardrobe malfunctions.
“They want me to wear a dress,” she exclaims. “But I can’t be wearing a dress 70 stories up!”
One artist who won’t be worried about baring her sole is Joss Stone. The often barefoot British soulstress will be singing the upbeat “Tell Me ‘Bout It,” from her new album, when she performs downtown at the South Street Seaport.
Joining her will be American Idol Jordin Sparks, along with finalists Blake Lewis and Melinda Doolittle. The squeaky-clean teeny-boppers will sing to type, performing “God Bless America” and “America the Beautiful.”
“Today” show host and former New York Giant Tiki Barber will be calling the evening from the sidelines. Barber and his “Today” colleague Natalie Morales will emcee the broadcast – and Barber says he can’t wait to see Sparks shine.
“I played with Jordin’s father [Phillippi Sparks] eight years ago when he was on the Giants,” he says. “It’s amazing how much she’s grown up. I am a huge fan. It’s really neat when you see someone who you’ve known for a long time find great success – and her father is a great friend of mine.”
Barber, who usually watches the show from the balcony of his East Side apartment, remembers the Fourth of July as one of his favorite holidays as a kid. He recalls setting off fireworks, smoke bombs and sparklers in his back yard with his twin brother, Ronde, in his hometown of Roanoke, Va.
But when it came to the fireworks, the future NFL player wasn’t so tough.
“I was scared of them,” he says. “People always said that if you hold onto it long, it’s going to blow your hand off.” Good thing for him – and for football – that didn’t happen.
Barber views the Macy’s show as something of a mitzvah, a good deed. “A lot of people don’t have access to see big fireworks shows, and to have a show like this on NBC, it’s a great avenue for them – it’s a spectacular sight,” he says.
After the pop stars sing, it’s time for the real stars to light up the night.
“It is the biggest show in America,” says Robin Hall, executive producer of Macy’s fireworks display. “The overall size and sweep of the show is bigger than ever before.”
This year’s show is double the size of last year’s, with longer barges (six on the East Side and two at the South Street Seaport) that can simultaneously shoot off low-level and mid-level fireworks, along with aerial highlights.
“One single barge has more material on it than the entire show in Washington, D.C., on the Fourth of July,” Hall says. “The sky display will be bigger, brighter and more colorful than ever before.”
For the first time in the United States, “nautical mine” fireworks will explode in the air and then light up again along the river, like little boats. Keep an eye out for the gnarly blasts of the “flying saucer,” which spins up and down, and the “jellyfish,” which looks a lot like its name.
Other new fireworks include the strobing golden stars called blinker explosions, and crackling Rice Krispies and Cracker Jacks.
As always, Macy’s will save the best for last. The showstopper is the famed “Golden Mile,” a multilayer explosion of golden light 1,200 feet in the air. Now that’s star power.