No doubt a lot of you remember and still play those “live” albums as remastered CDs. You know, “Frampton Comes Alive,” Queen’s “Live Killers,” Cheap Trick’s “Live at Budokan,” Little Feat’s “Waiting For Columbus” or Simon and Garfunkel’s “Live In Central Park.” For the younger crowd, how about The Roots’ “Come Alive” or The Dave Matthews Band’s “Crash”?

But nothing compares to the concerts themselves. The atmosphere pulses with energy, everyone is in a party mood, the performers become your best friends, the music mutates into an all-sensory explosion. Kate Reagan of Lewiston describes being at a concert as “like a religious experience.”

“I get so into these bands,” said Reagan, 36. “It’s like you connect with them when you’re at a concert. It changes the music – it’s a different experience. Those are the moments that I will always remember the most.”

To keep current on upcoming concerts and music, Reagan peruses the Internet for her favorite performers, receives e-mail ticket updates and checks out play lists from radio stations and television shows like “Grey’s Anatomy.”

Reagan already has a head start on the summer concert season. She recently saw Pearl Jam in Boston and is gearing up for Big Head Todd in Portland.

“Pearl Jam was a dream come true,” said Reagan. “Eddie Vedder still has it after all of these years.”

Nancy Bergeron, 45, of Lewiston can name off the top of her head about 20 concerts she’s been to, and guesses she’s been to close to 50. She saw Fleetwood Mac four times and Stevie Nicks as a solo act another three times.

“There’s something different about seeing them live,” said Bergeron. “When bands perform, it’s not the songs you hear on the radio. You really get to know what their music really sounds like.”

She usually goes to the rock concerts with her husband, Chuck, and the country concerts with her sisters and friends.

Last week, Bergeron made the road trip to Meadowbrook U.S. Cellular Pavilion in New Hampshire to see the Country Throwdown Tour featuring Montgomery Gentry and Little Big Town. Last summer, she truly committed to live music by going to the Country Music Association Music Festival in Nashville, Tenn.

Dan and Angie Cunliffe of Minot have become serious concert-goers in the past year. Ever since Dan scored a red-carpet trip to the CMA Awards show in Nashville last fall through his Bank of America Rewards credit card, Angie has become a huge pop country fan. She has since gone to Carrie Underwood and Sugarland concerts and has tickets to see Tim McGraw July 17 at the Comcast Center in Mansfield, Mass.

“I hadn’t been to a concert in 20 years,” said Angie. “I used to go as a teenager. My first one was Eric Clapton, and I never really listened to that much country before. But now I listen to the radio and I love going to the shows. It’s exciting to see them perform in person.”

Dan considers the concerts more than just a music event. It’s a road trip, it’s a chance to reconnect. It’s being a little more adventurous and spontaneous.

“I really had to talk her into going to the CMA Awards because she didn’t want to go,” said Dan. “And now she loves going to country music concerts. That’s what she really loves. And it’s a great couples thing – we’re not bringing the kids and we usually make a weekend of it.”

Concerts run the gamut of venues and genres. Sometimes the concerts are as close as Lewiston and Freeport (two of L.L. Bean’s six are in our listing), or tucked away in places like Brownfield or Buckfield. Sometimes it’s a road trip to New Hampshire, the Boston area or even Connecticut.

There are the outdoor concerts, and you take your chances with the weather. But anyone who’s ever been to a Grateful Dead show knows there’s nothing like dancing barefoot in the sun. There are the intimate performing auditoriums or even a stage-side table at a bar. There are the mongo arena concerts that thrust you into a sea of screaming fans.

In this age of instant technology and fingertip access to any kind of music, there is still nothing like seeing the real thing. Whether it’s your first or 50th concert, Reagan says that after a live show, you’ll never hear the music the same again.

Summer concert highlights

The venues: (For complete concert schedules and ticket information, enter the venue name for an Internet search.)

Androscoggin Colisee, Lewiston, Maine

Cumberland County Civic Center, Portland, Maine

L.L. Bean, Freeport, Maine

Merrill Auditorium, Portland, Maine

Port City Music Hall, Portland, Maine

Stone Mountain Arts Center, Brownfield, Maine

Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom, Hampton Beach, N.H.

Meadowbrook U.S. Cellular Pavilion, Gilford, N.H.

Bank of America Pavilion, Boston, Mass.

Comcast Center, Mansfield, Mass.

Fenway Park, Boston, Mass.

Gillette Stadium, Foxboro, Mass.

House of Blues, Boston, Mass.

Middle East, Cambridge, Mass.

Showcase Live, Foxboro, Mass.

TD Banknorth Garden, Boston, Mass.

Comcast Theatre, Hartford, Conn.

Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Conn.

XL Center, Hartford, Conn.

Pop/Rock/Alt/Metal

Monday, June 7: Dave Matthews Band, Comcast Center

Saturday, June 12: Dead Milkmen, Middle East

Saturday, June 12: Eagles w/Dixie Chicks and Keith Urban, Gillette Stadium

Saturday, June 12: Big Head Todd & The Monsters, Port City Music Hall

Sunday, June 13: Styx/Foreigner/Kansas, Meadowbrook

Tuesday, June 15: Jethro Tull, Bank of America Pavilion

Thursday, June 17: Daughtry, Cumberland County Civic Center

Thursday, June 17: Jimmy Buffet, Comcast Center

Thursday-Friday, June 17-18: Phish, Comcast Theatre

Friday, June 18: Ted Nugent, Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom

Sunday, June 20: Carol King and James Taylor, TD Banknorth Garden

Monday, June 21: Danzig, House of Blues

Wednesday, June 23: Scorpions, Meadowbrook

Wednesday, June 23: Justin Bieber, XL Center

Saturday, June 26: Tift Merritt, L.L. Bean

Thursday, July 1: moe, Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom

Friday-Sunday, July 2-4: Nateva Music and Camping Festival, Oxford, Maine

Saturday, July 3: Michael Buble, Mohegan Sun Arena

Thursday, July 8: Amos Lee, Port City Music Hall

Friday, July 9: Jack Johnson, Comcast Theatre

Saturday, July 17: Cheap Trick and Squeeze, Meadowbrook

Saturday, July 24: Bon Jovi w/Kid Rock, Gillette Stadium

Saturday, July 24: Appetite for Destruction, Middle East

Saturday, July 24: The Rochester Mayhem Festival (Korn, Rob Zombie, more), Comcast Theatre

Monday, July 26: The Beach Boys, Rangeley, Maine

Thursday, July 29: Sting w/The Royal Philharmonic, Comcast Center

Saturday, July 31: Maroon 5 with Guster and Ry Cuming, Meadowbrook

Tuesday, Aug. 3: George Thorogood And The Destroyers, Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom

Tuesday, Aug. 3: Kings of Leon, Comcast Theatre

Friday, Aug. 6: John Mayer, Comcast Center

Friday, Aug. 6: Gov’t Mule, Bank of America Pavilion

Friday-Saturday, Aug. 6-14: KAHBANG 2010 Indie Festival, Bangor Waterfront, Bangor, Maine

Wednesday, Aug. 11: Counting Crows, Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom

Thursday, Aug. 12: Green Day, Comcast Theatre

Thursday, Aug. 12: Sheryl Crow, Meadowbrook

Saturday, Aug. 14: Aerosmith and J. Geils Band, Fenway Park

Tuesday and Wednesday, Aug. 16 and 17: Ray LaMontagne and David Gray, Bank of America Pavilion

Thursday, Aug. 19: Juliette Lewis, Port City Music Hall

Thursday, Aug. 19: Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers, Comcast Center

Tuesday, Aug. 24: Rob Thomas, Mohegan Sun

Saturday, Aug. 28: Jackson Browne, Bank of America Pavilion

Rap/R&B

Thursday, June 10: Earth, Wind and Fire, Bank of America Pavilion

Friday, June 11: Jordin Sparks, Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom

Sunday, June 20: 50 Cent, Androscoggin Colisee

Thursday, July 15, Christina Aguilera, Mohegan Sun

Thursday, July 29: Tower of Power, Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom

Wednesday, July 28: Arrested Development, Showcase Live

Tuesday, Aug. 3: Black Eyed Peas, TD Banknorth Garden

Monday, Aug. 9: Public Enemy, House of Blues

Thursday, Aug. 12: Robert Cray, Stone Mountain Arts Center

Country/Folk

Saturday, June 17: Tim McGraw, Comcast Center

Thursday-Sunday, June 17-20: Blistered Fingers Bluegrass Festival, Litchfield, Maine

Saturday, June 26: Brooks & Dunn “Last Rodeo,” Comcast Center

Saturday, July 3: Rascal Flats, Comcast Theatre

Sunday, July 18: Zac Brown Band, Meadowbrook

Friday, July 30: Brandi Carlile, Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom

Monday, Aug. 9: Bela Fleck Trio, Stone Mountain Arts Center

Wednesday, Aug. 11: Willie Nelson, Merrill Auditorium

Sunday, Aug. 15: Mary Chapin Carpenter, Stone Mountain Arts Center

Saturday, Aug. 21: Reba, Meadowbrook

Saturday, Aug. 21: 7th Annual New England Country Music Fest, Gillette Stadium

Friday-Sunday, Aug. 27-29: American Folk Festival on the Bangor Waterfront, Bangor, Maine

Sunday, Sept. 5: Sugarland, Meadowbrook

Blues/Jazz

Friday-Sunday, June 18-20: Maine Blues Festival, Naples, Maine

Friday, July 9: BB King, House of Blues

Saturday-Sunday, July 10-11: North Atlantic Blues Festival, Rockland, Maine

Saturday, July 10: Trombone Shorty, L.L. Bean

Monday, July 12: Keb’ Mo’, Stone Mountain Arts Center

Wednesday, July 18: Taj Mahal, Stone Mountain Arts Center

Thursday, Aug. 12: John Mayall, Showcase Live

Friday, Aug. 13: Shorty Billups/James Montgomery/Elmore James Jr., Showcase Live

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