American Idol-May 6, 2008

Last weeks Neil Diamond episode could have been better, but was better than the prior weeks Mariah Carey show. Thankfully, no one had a big release this week, so there was no guest star. Last week also saw the end of uber-dramatic Brooke White’s run on the show and left the more talented Syesha as the last girl standing.

This week’s show featured songs from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Its no secret the HoF is a total joke and the selection process consists of Jann Wenner and a few other people from NY picking bands they like, not bands that really deserve it. Still, there are some amazing artists in the Hall, so the show should have been much better.

David Cook started the show with a decent version of Duran Duran’s “Hungry Like the Wolf.” What concerns me, though, is the fact that Duran Duran aren’t even in the HoF. I must have missed something in the rules, I guess. He followed it up with The Who’s greatest song, “Baba O’Riley.” It started nice, but it was a classic case of trying to fit a long song, with lots of changes, into a minute. What could have been a huge number for David was just better than average.

Syesha was next and once again delivered. She’s always been the best female singer, but has made strides in her personality over the last three shows. She’s also looking amazing which really helps. She started with “Proud Mary” which was a pretty perfect song choice. She followed it up with probably the second best song ever recorded, Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come.” Written about the death of his son, as well as the civil rights movement, Change is one of those songs you just don’t want people messing with, but Syesha did very well. The arrangement was a bit weird and R&Bish sounding, but this should be enough to get her into the final 3.

Jason Castro started with Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff” and the only thing even close to Marley was Jason’s stupid attempt at recreating the Marley dreads. The song was terrible and continues a long streak of Jason’s crappiness. Things only got worse, though, when he covered “Mr. Tambourine Man” for his second song and forgot the lyrics. He didn’t sing it well either, so it was just a terrible night for him.

David A was the final contestant and proved why he’ll be one of the finalists. Elvis’ “Love Me Tender” and Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me” were very smart song choices and he sang them both very well. Not much more can be said.

So it’s an easy one this week: Jason was terrible, so he’ll be in the bottom. The two David’s are always safe, so that leaves Syesha for the other bottom member, but it shouldn’t matter cause Jason should finally hit the road.