American rock band, “The Killers” brought down the house this past Sunday at Santiago’s Movistar arena.  From opener “Human” to closing encore “When You Were Young”, the band played a solid and well-produced show.

Happy Birthday Guadalupe

The Killers were in Santiago to promote their third album, “Day & Age” – and it was a charmer.  Front man Brandon Flowers, 27, proved he is one of the most charismatic rock stars to emerge in the ’00s.  On stage he had the right combination of suave swagger and “this-is-awfully-important” urgency.

Never mind that there is probably nothing important about the Killers’ music, especially when his best line is “I got soul but I’m not a soldier.” Sic, but the 95-minute concert was bracing, buoyant dance-rock fun.

Musically, this Las Vegas quartet — augmented by as many as three musicians at Northrop — takes its inspirations from the 1980s. Just a cursory listen to Monday’s songs made well-schooled ears perk up with “Oh, that sounds like the Cars” or Duran Duran or the Talking Heads or Power Station or David Bowie or Queen or U2. That kind of overt homage to the killer music of that MTV-dominated decade might help explain why the Killers’ crowd – has expanded to Gen X’ers and baby boomers.

Killers front man Brandon Flowers

Regardless of their age, the 5000 plus concertgoers were dancing to the irresistibly bouncy hits “Human,” “Mr. Brightside” and “Somebody Told Me,” which was given a harder, harsher but winning treatment.

Whether buoyant or bracing, the Killers’ music was a wall-of-sound assault, sometimes majestic, occasionally swirling, often intense and always loud.  At times, the guitars drowned out Flowers’ voice, which isn’t easy to do because he sings with so much gusto, proud emotion and plain old oomph.

Nevertheless, for their first time in Chile, the connection was there, and Flowers made it plain:  “I feel a Chile connection” he cried.  And the crowd, of course, swooned accordingly.