The singer-songwriter and guitarist had women swooning over her impressive guitar skills in Denver.

Something happens at altitude. I’m, like, gayer,” Towa Bird joked to her audience at the Marquis Theater. Amid gasps, she later took off her white button-down, revealing a cutoff red tank with “COLORADO” in blue letters.

The 27-year-old British singer-songwriter and guitarist stopped in Denver on Saturday, Sept. 19, as part of The Gentleman Tour. Bird dropped her sophomore album “Gentleman” on May 14, exploring the tensions between masculinity and femininity, reexamining gender and embracing duality as a queer person.

While she’s an impressive musician in her own right, Bird is also known for being singer-songwriter and actress Reneé Rapp’s girlfriend. The couple met through friends before Bird opened for Rapp’s Snow Hard Feelings Tour in 2023. They went public with their relationship early the following year.

Pinstripes and power chords

Bird writes alt-pop and indie rock music with an angsty alto reminiscent of The Beaches’ Jordan Miller — her lead single “Gentleman” especially captures that confident, sultry energy. Her set lived in the lesbian heartthrob rocker world with plenty of guitar solos and swooning from the audience.

Bird walked onstage in a pinstripe suit, white shirt, red tie and big curly hair. The crowd screeched as she bounced around, tipping back with her guitar. Bright synths and thumping guitar soared on the breakup track “Don’t Wanna Hear About It.”

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“We love you, Towa,” someone shouted from the crowd.

“Hey, the feeling is mutual,” Bird responded. “You’re gonna see a lot of guitar solos. Is that OK? There’s probably upwards of 18.”

Towa Bird | Photo: Maddie Browning

Captivating a small room

She didn’t sell out the Marquis, but the venue was down to its last tickets. Bird commanded the room and maintained a consistent party vibe.

On “All Gone,” Bird started a call-and-response with the audience. “Oh baby, please be the answer,” fans shouted back.

As strobing red and blue lights flashed across the stage, Bird’s band launched into a “Footloose”- style opening for “Ew.” The drums crashed in, and Bird rocked out on the guitar.

Bird paused the fast-paced yearning in favor of sweet romance and ’80s synths. “I know you’re everyone’s daydream / But you’re so much more to me / Let’s go / You just take the lead,” she sang on “Afterglow,” as queer couples held each other and kissed.

As planned by a select few audience members, the whole crowd dropped down to its knees for “Dog.” Some fans even barked for Bird as she sang the sexy — and a little freaky — track.

After the lusty rock song, Bird switched up the energy again. “We’re going to slow it down a bit. We’re going to get a little emotional.”

She performed “A Party” — a sorrowful, creeping melody about loneliness — from her debut record “American Hero.”

Bird was endlessly grateful for the support of her fans. Before “Victoria,” she explained that the track is “about growing up in spaces and places that don’t necessarily feel like yours. But then you get to make beautiful music, and you get to share it with you guys.”

She lingered in the sad nostalgia briefly before shifting back to her rocker persona. “Wipe your tears — we’re back to the sexy shit.”

Sex & love

“69 BPM” felt like a single that would land in a lesbian James Bond-style film. Red lights washed over the stage as Bird tore through a guitar solo.

Giving fans a glimpse into her forthcoming music, Bird played her unreleased single “Deep Blue.” The spunky love song was extra sweet given that Rapp has blue eyes.

“Denver, how do we feel about paying $9 a gallon for gas? No universal health care?” Bird shouted into a bullhorn, followed by audience booing. She then launched into her single “B.I.L.L.S.,” a punk-rock commentary on late-stage capitalism.

One of the exaggerated lines goes, “I bought a banana/Cost me twenty dollars,” so naturally, Bird threw a giant inflatable banana into the crowd.

With “Deep Blue” hinting at what’s next and a live show this tight, Bird is outgrowing rooms the size of the Marquis. Next time she comes through Colorado, it may take a much bigger venue to hold her — and all those guitar solos.