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American Idol judge Simon Cowell told Final Four contestant Jason Castro that he should pack his bags after his performance Tuesday night during Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Night.

I would have to agree. Jason’s choice of Bob Marley’s song “I Shot the Sheriff” and Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man” did nothing to help him this week.

Though Jason seemed pretty happy with his choices the judges were especially critical this week. On the “I Shot the Sheriff” song, judge Randy Jackson thought it was karaoke and nothing special. Judge Paula Abdul said that although he did perform more to the audience this time, she wasn’t crazy about his song or his performance. Simon was particularly harsh, but right on, when he said it was “utterly atrocious.” He added that it sounded like a “first round audition massacre” and the only comparison to Bob Marley was “his hair.”

For Jason’s second son “Mr. Tambourine Man,” Randy said Jason wasn’t in his zone. Paula said one of her famous lines, “It is what it is” and added, “You didn’t blow me a way but you blow me away.” Simon added the suitcase comment.

As for the others, David Archuleta got the top praise from the judges for his choices “Stand By Me” and Elvis Presley’s “Love Me Tender.” Overall, the judges loved his vocals, his emotion and the connection with the audience.

In Simon’s words, “You didn’t just beat the competition — you crushed the competition tonight.”

While Syesha Mercado and David Cook didn’t get the top praises of the night, both of them had solid performances for the most part.

Tonight, Syesha appeared to be in her zone. Her first song “Proud Mary” made her look like a star, Paula said. Randy was proud of Syesha for finally “showing up and being in the zone.” Simon disagreed saying her “Proud Mary” was a bad, “shreaky” version.

I would have to disagree with Simon — Syesha was in her element tonight. She looked marvelous (I love her hair now), sang marvelously and really put a lot of heart into both songs.

Her second choice was Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come.” She said she felt personally connected to the song after learning that it was written during the Civil Rights era and feeling as if it has meaning to her personally with the changes she was going through.

While this wouldn’t be a song I would have picked for her (I picked Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” or The Dixie Cups “Chapel of Love), she picked a song she could put her full heart into. The result was well worth the effort. Strangely, Randy wasn’t in to her performance (he thought it was disconnected and fell flat) while Simon and Paula loved it.

While Paula was giving her opinion, Syesha started crying almost uncontrollably. I was seriously afraid she was going to go over the edge if Simon cut her down. I almost had a heart attack when he announced that he disagreed with Randy and loved her performance.

Upon hearing Simon’s praise, Syesha said it meant a lot to her. Jokingly, host Ryan Seacrest called Randy a “buzzkill.”

Last but definitely not least is David Cook, who sang Duran Duran’s “Hungry Like a Wolf” and The Who’s “Baba O’Riley.”

The judges considered the “Hungry Like a Wolf” an “okay” performance, but weren’t overly impressed thinking he needed to give it his all. His second song, however, won the judges back over. Randy called him the “resident rocker” and Paula made it clear that she wants “more.” Simon said “Welcome back, David Cook.”

Ryan reminded voters that it’s getting down to the end and every vote counts, reminding the audience that it was in the final four vote that knocked the now best-selling artist Daughtery out of the Idol competition in the past.

Be sure to tune in Wednesday for the result show or come back to the TV News Gazette for the recap.