LEWISTON – The last time Bob Dylan played in Lewiston, the lines were so long, some fans missed the first half hour of the show.

Not to worry. That was 2000, when the Central Maine Civic Center was little more than a creaky barn with antiquated facilities. When Dylan plays again, it will be at the same location but in a more modernized facility.

“The building has undergone such a face-lift over the past four or five years, it’s pretty much a new facility,” said Androscoggin Bank Colisee spokeswoman Kellie Morris.

Dylan is coming to Lewiston on May 17. Tickets go on sale Friday at $50 a pop.

When he played Lewiston eight years ago, an estimated 2,000 fans in separate lines streamed across the civic center parking lot before the show.

By the time Dylan stepped on to the stage, at least 100 people were still outside waiting to get in. They missed a good portion of Dylan’s opening set.

Things are better now. Fans of the singer, songwriter, poet and author will enter the Colisee through multiple doors and walk more logical corridors to their seats. That’s good news, because fans of the 66-year-old crooner tend to come from all over.

When he played here in 2000, a good portion of the turnout was comprised of people who had come from across the country to see him. Some particularly ardent fans follow Dylan wherever he goes when he’s on tour.

Born Robert Allen Zimmerman, Dylan became a reluctant figurehead of American unrest in the 1960s. Some of his songs became anthems of the protest movement as anti-war sentiments raged across the country.

Dylan is expected to perform some of his classics: “Like a Rolling Stone,” “Tombstone Blues,” “Tangled up in Blue,” “Blowin’ in the Wind” as well as titles from his 2006 release “Modern Times.”

The concert kicks off a tour that will bring Dylan into Canada to perform in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

The Colisee plans to officially announce the concert Monday. Morris admitted she is not one of Dylan’s hard-core fans.

“But I’m excited about the show,” she said. “It’s hard not to be.”