Slowly leaving the past behind, Cleveland kidnapping victim Amanda Berry partied onstage with Rapper Nelly on a Saturday night, July 26 2013 (EDT).

Amanda Berry tried to be discreet as she came to the RoverFest in Cleveland to watch Nelly. But then, the crowd was thrilled by her attending the concert that she was prodded to appear on stage with her family.

The announcer, as soon as Ms Berry emerged onstage, pacified the crowd to make "for a bigger round of applause and cheer... than any of the acts here... I told her she had a little bit of time to make up on the partying and you guys could help her out tonight."

Ms Berry was wearing sunglasses and was simply dressed in a black shirt and jeans. She smiled happily to the thrilled crowd, waved to acknowledge the crowd and then took exit backstage only to be called by rapper Nelly back on stage after couple of songs.

Concertgoer Kayleigh Fladung told The Plain Dealer, "She didn't say anything, but she was smiling and happy. She waved to the crowd, everyone went crazy cheering, and she went backstage. Nelly did his set, four or five songs, and then he brought her out again and everyone cheered."

"Everyone, here's Amanda Berry," rapper Nelly introduced her onstage warmly.

Ms Berry re-emerged onstage holding hands with a guy who seemed protective of her as she made her little party moves. The guy was Shane French, the host of the syndicated talk radio "Rover's Morning Glory" on WMMS in Cleveland.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Mr French said that he was also surprised seeing Ms Berry at the RoverFest. He said he invited Ms Berry in an impulse a few weeks ago before the show, but he was not sure if she was really coming. On the night of the show, he was shocked to be told by the bodyguards that, indeed, Ms Berry had come.

"I just said that she had 10 years of partying to make up for and she should come. She didn't say why she decided to come, but some of her family members told me they listen to my show every day and had been to RoverFest in the past," Mr French said.

Mr French recalled that family members with Ms Berry cried seeing that the crowd were cheering for her. Although he didn't see Ms Berry cry, "I think she was pretty overwhelmed by the response that the crowd gave her. She just seemed to be having a great time."

"I figured that when she wants to tell her story, she will make the arrangements, and it would have been pointless to even ask," Mr French said as to Ms Berry being invited to his radio show.

Meanwhile, Ms Berry's appearance onstage with rapper Nelly came a day after suspect Ariel Castro pleaded guilty to 937 counts of crime that convicted him for life imprisonment without paroles, plus 1,000 years.