Lionel Richie is one of those artists you half expect to see appearing as a guest celebrity judge on American Idol. Or you might see him poking fun at himself in a VH1 special about make-out songs of the 1980s. The 80s was after all Richie's moment. But even he probably never expected he'd be reliving this part of that decade.

In 1986, then US president Ronald Reagan bombed targets in Libya. And this weekend in Tripoli, Lionel Richie performed at a festival marking the 20th anniversary of those attacks.

The Libyan government didn't exactly use the commemoration this weekend to whoop it up. But the presence of Lionel Richie did give the anniversary more of a celebratory feel than it's had in the past 20 years. At a press conference prior to his appearance, Lionel Richie said he sensed that Libya was trying to re-cast itself for the 21st century.

"They wanna make a change, want to make a difference. And I see it as, "We recognize the past, but we want to move to the future."

Many Libyans still can't erase the memories of the American bombing. April 14th, 1986 has become one of those "I remember where I was" dates. It is for this Libyan woman in Tripoli.

"We woke up and found everything shattered. We ran outside to the street barefoot. And some of our neighbors died. We were only injured, but our house was damaged. And we fixed everything. No one compensated us."

Now that relations between the US and Libya are in a state of thaw, hard feelings may be slowly dissipating.

For Lionel Richie's part, he believes that music can succeed where diplomacy has often failed.

"I have seen it where in many many populations of the world, politics they couldn't agree on, religion they couldn't agree on. You bring a musical artist in, it translates totally into another realm, and I think that what's going to happen now, that by this being the door to open, you're going to see a change in this country, I can almost guarantee it."

Lionel Richie, as a solo artist, has arguably been more popular abroad than here at home. Still, it was an odd sight: Lionel Richie in Tripoli, performing for about a thousand Libyan officials, diplomats and businessmen. In the background, the bombed out remains of Bab al-Azizyah.

That's Colonel Qadafi's home. The one that Reagan targeted. Qadhafi has kept in its shell-shocked condition. Qadaffi's daughter Hanna died in the bombing. Richie introduced his finale with dozens of children dressed as angels looking on.

And he evoked Hanna's name. It was actually Saturday night, not Sunday morning. Regardless, Lionel Richie told the crowd he liked Libya. I must tell you, I will be back, I promise you.