Fleet Week and Memorial Day weekend will sound a bit sweeter this year thanks to a new event that will honor veterans and their families.

Saturday’s inaugural Side By Side: A Celebration of Service will feature free performances by singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw, ‘90s R&B hitmakers Boyz II Men, the US Navy Band and cast members of “Jersey Boys” and “Wicked” at Rockefeller Center, followed by an Imagine Dragons concert at Radio City Music Hall.

Northwell Health, Side By Side’s creator, will provide hundreds of free tickets to military members, veterans and their families for the Imagine Dragons show.

“Given our long-time work with veterans, we wanted to hold an event to extend our sincere appreciation to all those who have served our country, as well as the families who support them,” Northwell Health president and CEO Michael Dowling told The Post via email. “Side By Side will honor Northwell’s commitment to veterans and their families, and celebrate their service and sacrifice throughout the years. We feel that no service member in our communities should feel forgotten or left behind, which is why over a decade ago we created an Office of Military and Veterans Liaison Services within Northwell.”

Dowling credited Juan Serrano, director of Northwell’s Office of Military and Veterans Liaison Services — and a Marine with two tours in Iraq — with spearheading the event.

The Post recently chatted with Imagine Dragons, Gavin DeGraw and Boyz II Men about their personal connections to the military as they previewed their Side By Side appearances.

Imagine Dragons

“We’re always excited to have any opportunity to do anything to support our troops, but more than that, I think we had a personal connection,” says Imagine Dragons bassist Ben McKee. “We met a man named Dusty [Kirby] who has been helping fellow veterans. He was actually shot in the jaw, much of his face was destroyed. Just meeting him and hearing his story, and he’s helped so many — people like him sacrificed so much, it’s just a no-brainer to lend our support.”

After Kirby was shot by a sniper in Iraq on Christmas Day 2006, “The military patched me up the best they could,” he says in a video for Side By Side. “Twenty-nine surgeries and 10 years later, I still couldn’t eat a normal meal.” But after a team of Northwell doctors fixed him up, he said, his daughter didn’t recognize him — she had never seen him smile before. He’ll be on hand Saturday to share his story.

McKee says his dad used to take him to watch the Navy’s Blue Angels fly over San Francisco. Now, from his home in Oakland, he’s able to watch San Francisco Fleet Week from his deck with his parents.

Gavin DeGraw

Gavin DeGraw, known for hits like “I Don’t Want to Be,” grew up as part of a military family in South Fallsburg, New York — his father, mother and grandfather were all in the Army — and jokes that he “wanted to be G.I. Joe when I was a kid.”

He’s looking forward to singing “Soldier” at Side By Side, a song he wrote that “uses the imagery of the military because I think that’s an important topic to sing about.”

DeGraw says he was invited to hang out in Hell’s Kitchen for Fleet Week years ago.

“It was cool to watch everyone in uniform and get to hang out in the city for a few nights,” he says. “It’s exciting for us to watch and just see them hang out at the bars and getting to be normal. So it’ll be a real trip to be a part of that.”

Boyz II Men

Nathan Morris of Boyz II Men’s uncle is a “lifer” in the Marines, so he understands the sacrifices military members and their families make. He also points out that “one of our very first performances was for the USO with Bob Hope, which was special to us.”

“Unfortunately in today’s society, we don’t support [the military] as much as we should,” says Morris, “because a lot of people think that security is automatic. So it’s one of those things that whenever events like that are brought to us, we do our best to try and attend it.”

For more information, visit www.sidebysidenyc.com.