Ocean Eyes Tour


The Ocean Eyes Tour is the first headlining concert tour by American electronica project Owl City, in support of his second studio album, Ocean Eyes.

Background

released his second studio album, Ocean Eyes on July 14, 2009. In October 2009, Owl City announced the Ocean Eyes Tour. The first leg of the tour took place in the United States starting on January 20 to February 14, with Lights and Deas Vail serving as the opening acts. Owl City then toured across Europe for the second leg of the tour from February to March 2010, with Lights joining him again. Once the second leg of the tour finished, he joined Cobra Starship as the opening act on their Australian and New Zealand tour.
Owl City returned to North America for the third leg of the tour from March to May 2010. He later toured across Europe in May 2010 for four shows on the fourth leg of the tour. Owl City briefly opened for Maroon 5 and John Mayer in August 2010, before he travelled to Asia for three shows in November 2010 on the fifth leg of the tour. He concluded the Ocean Eyes tour in Oceania that same month.

Reception

Critical response

The Ocean Eyes Tour was met with mixed to positive feedback by critics. Scott Fryberger of Jesus Freak Hideout gave a positive response with the show at the McCain Auditorium. He wrote, "I was very impressed at Owl City's professionalism and enthusiasm. Though I didn't expect the group to not give their all, as they come off as really friendly and loving, it was refreshing to see that they gave it 100%." The show at the Beaumont Club was met with mixed responses. Timothy Finn of Spin praised his live band writing, "thanks in large part to his band, which gave some of his songs a harder edge, and to one of his keyboard players, a woman who laid down some lovely harmonies." Elke Mermis of The Pitch wrote, "Owl City played an unarguably tight, well-executed set." However, Mermis criticized Young's stage presence stating, "Young looked like, well, a kid in his southern Minnesota basement, pretending to be a rock star."
Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times gave a mixed feedback of the concert at the Club Nokia. He praised the first half of the show noting, "The music was giddy and easy to follow but impressively detailed as well, with shifting layers of acoustic and electronic instruments. The technique worked in the background, though; like Owl City's music, this portion of the concert presented a slightly heightened rendition of reality." However, he was critical on the last half of the concert feeling that, "Young has already tired of the puppy-love juvenilia on Ocean Eyes." Similarly, Teresa Jue of the Daily Bruin gave a mixed response for the concert stating, "Owl City's keyboard medleys were catchy... The ultimate problem though, was that many of Owl City's songs are rather repetitive, making for similar rhythms and instrumental qualities that were at times indistinguishable from each other." Jesse Hughey of The Dallas Observer wrote a positive review for the Verizon Theatre concert. He wrote, "Owl City captures the turbulent, overblown emotions of that hormone-drenched age group perfectly." Writing for The Star Tribune, Jon Bream was critical on the State Theatre concert, describing the stage presence of Young "to be on autopilot," noting that "Maybe it was the rare afternoon time. Maybe he's bored. Maybe he's ready to move on to new material. Maybe he's tired."
Writing on the concert at the Ogden Theatre, The Denver Post gave a positive response noting, "Every song during the first half of the set was a fun, poppy, sometimes toe-tapping three-minute adventure with eclectic storytelling lyrics that ranged from a trip to the dentist to a walk through corn fields." Another positive review came from Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian writing on the concert at Shepherd's Bush Empire. She wrote, "There isn't much variety to his song structures, which incline toward straightforward pop-rock, but there are little surprises tacked on: the xylophone tinkles that herald 'Air Traffic', an oddly erotic introduction to 'Cave In', in which the string duo down instruments and cavort around a drum, like violin-playing sprites."

Commercial performance

The first few shows of the tour sold well as the McCain Auditorium concert reportedly sold out. The show at the Beaumont Club also sold out to a crowd of 1,200 people. The Club Nokia show were just shy of 4,000 people in attendance. His concert at the Diamond Ballroom had sold out, as well as many shows throughout February, with many tickets selling out. The concert at the Aragon Ballroom also had a sold out crowd. Another sold out show was at State Theatre. In the UK, the show at Shepherd's Bush Empire also had a sold out crowd.

Opening acts

This set list is representative of the performance on January 20, 2010, at McCain Auditorium in Manhattan, Kansas. It does not represent the set list at all concerts for the duration of the tour.
  1. "Umbrella Beach"
  2. "The Bird and the Worm"
  3. "Tip of the Iceberg"
  4. "On the Wing"
  5. "Air Traffic"
  6. "Fireflies"
  7. "Meteor Shower"
  8. "The Technicolor Phase"
  9. "The Saltwater Room"
  10. "Dental Care"
  11. "Hot Air Balloon"
  12. "Cave In"
  13. "Vanilla Twilight"
  14. "Hello Seattle"

    Tour dates