To the 200 of you who showed up to the Ogden Theater in Denver on Wednesday night: Well done. You know what you did was the good, right thing to do. For the remaining 1,300 of you Denverites who could have filled out the Ogden’s capacity, but weren’t there overflowing that huge space with feel-good vibes, jiving dance moves and ear-to-ear smiles: For shame. Here’s what you missed, in a convenient list.

1.) A band from the desert
For starters, how many times does one from the land-locked state of Colorado get to see a band born and bred in the South Saharan desert of Mali—A septet of rebels who fought side-by-side with guns and guitars in the Malian revolution of 1990—classic, right? Complete with traditional robes, face-covering cloths and turbans, Tinariwen looked as dangerous on stage as they did friendly and inviting, as facial expressions ranged from overjoyed to stone-faced and stoic to hidden altogether.

2.) A truly unique style
Band co-founder and leader Ibrahim Ag Alhabib showcased his rock-solid Tamashek chops—a style of guitar playing he helped invent and that is unique to the nomadic Touareg people, of which Tinariwen are members. It’s a thumb/forefinger type of flickering melodic improvisation Ibrahim used to traverse his electric guitar with the grace of a drunken bumblebee. He spliced in short solos between bouts of call-and-response singing with his chorus of backup vocalists, as the music, though based in droning harmonics, was also blues-like in form, Middle-Eastern in melody, and rock n roll in soul.

3.) A kick-ass rhythm section.
Bottomed out by a pair of percussive pundits (a djembe player and a guy who sat cross-legged and beat what looked like an overturned basin with closed fists), it was the bass that was particularly stellar, hitting accented beats with low notes to fill out the band’s humming swath, and ripping it up in between with hot, punchy licks. The kicker: he did it with an upside-down bass, strung bottom to top (as a lefty), perhaps because nothing else was available to him. Rhythms fluctuated from song to song, tricking you into looking for odd-meters when there really weren’t any—just skillful use of unconventional syncopation, accenting the unexpected and warping offbeats into truly get-down grooves.

4.) A dance party.
A South Saharan-style dance party. Which is essentially whatever anyone in the audience wanted it to be. The all-too-typical hipster cross-armer was converted into a hand waving fool within minutes of “Cler Achel’s” mesmerizing beat and hypnotic drones. Swervy sways, side-stepping, and twirling bodies were all the rage at the Tinariwen concert, and if you thought everyone looked silly, it’s because they did, in the happiest, best way possible.

5.) One really awesome guy on the left side of the stage who danced, clapped, and sang his way into the hearts of everyone in the crowd, like some gloriously goofy bobble-headed doll of delight.
His expressive hands pulled in the energy and pushed out the love. ‘Nuff said.

Now, don’t you feel silly. For those of you left laying directly in these Touareg heroes’ paths, please re-read the preceding before you even think about missing a Tinariwen gig.

Remaining dates:
6/25 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
6/26 New York, NY @ Central Park SummerStage
6/27 Brooklyn, NY @ The Bell House