The most faaaabulous holiday extravaganza happens tonight at Rockefeller Center, where the giant Norway Spruce corpse will be lit up by the Christmas-loving Mayor Bloomberg and Tishman Speyer CEO Jerry I. Speyer. They'll flip the switch to turn on 30,000 energy efficient LED lights at precisely 8:55 p.m., following almost two hours of live performances by artists such as Cee Lo Green, Faith Hill, Michael Bublé, Carole King, Katharine McPhee, Javier Colon (NBC’s “The Voice”) and the Radio City Rockettes. (Justin Bieber and Tony Bennett pre-taped their performances.)
Al Roker and Savannah Guthrie will host the show, which will be broadcast on NBC starting at 7 p.m. (@Christmas30Rock is also Tweeting the dickens out of this, with some pretty great photos.) Of course, if you want join the masses squeezing into Rockefeller Center to see this in person, you should probably seek professional counseling, but if you must go, there are reportedly "a million cops" waiting there to control the crowd (and in case the 74 feet tree "tries to make a run for it"). After being on display through January 7th, the tree will be milled for lumber for Habitat for Humanity, so at least it died for a good cause.
To tide you over until tonight's big reveal, please enjoy this timeless video of a Christmas tree going up in flames, brought to you by the FDNY, which is issuing its annual winter warning to use caution when filling your apartment with candles, space heaters, electric blankets, and trees. (See below for some helpful tips on how to not die in a raging inferno.)
