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%."^[9] 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."^[2] 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."^[10] The Columbus Dispatch noted that, "Owl City and his band put on a very entertaining show," writing on the concert at Newport Music Hall.^[11]

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."^[12] 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."^[13] 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."^[14] 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."^[15]

Commercial performance

The first few shows of the tour sold well as the McCain Auditorium concert reportedly sold out.^[9] The show at the Beaumont Club also sold out to a crowd of 1,200 people.^[2] The Club Nokia show were just shy of 4,000 people in attendance.^[16] The concert at the Aragon Ballroom also had a sold out crowd.^[17] In the UK, the show at Shepherd's Bush Empire also had a sold out crowd.^[15]