Iron Maiden & Christopher Cross Address Rising Canada

Over the weekend, Iron Maiden kicked off their 50th anniversary North American tour in Toronto while Christopher Cross concluded his North American tour with Toto and the Romantics in the same city. Both the British heavy metal band and the American singer-songwriter used the opportunity to address the rising tensions between Canada and the United States.

At the first of two sold-out nights at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday, Iron Maiden acknowledged the absurdity of Donald Trump's recent renaming of Lake Ontario as Lake America. Vocalist Bruce Dickinson said, "We got here, we crossed Lake Ontario, we will be crossing the Gulf of Mexico. But apart from the ridiculous state of the world, how the fuck are you lot tonight? Alright?" Along with the executive order to rename the lake, which put Google Maps in a weird spot, Trump enacted a 50 percent tariff on a variety of Canadian goods after the collapse of trade negotiations.

At the RBC Amphitheatre last night, Cross began his set with his 2011 track "Dreamers," which features a snippet of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech. "It's a recording from something quite famous in our country, but you may not know what it was, but it was a gentleman named Dr. Martin Luther King, speaking about civil rights," Cross said onstage. "It represents a very dark time in my country, which is happening again."

"I want to tell you that we love your country and appreciate your country very much," he continued. "I'm just very sorry and embarrassed that we have an asshole for a president. But don't give up on us. We have an election coming up, and we're going to do our best to fix it. And then we'll be buying all your shit again, and you'll be buying all our shit again. We can be victims of corporate greed together."

Watch his speech below, along with Bruce Dickinson's comment.