The Mercury Music Prize is one of the most coveted titles a band or musician could win. It proved to be genre-hopping electronic quartet Alt-J's big night as they picked up the prestigious prize. The event was held at The Roundhouse, Camden.Building on Yvonne Donnelly Smith’s great work over the past seven years, PRG was pleased to supply rigging and lighting for all areas from the event to the red carpet, dressing rooms, press repeater boards and the exterior of the building.

PRG’s Andrew Strachan worked with the award winning lighting designer, Nigel Catmur supplying a mixture of VL1000, VL 2000 and VL3000 spots. This was supported by VL5’s and GS Beam 5s which illuminated the three stages and added a wash of colour for additional ambience.

Working with lighting designer, Gerry Mott, PRG’s John McEvoy lit the exterior of The Roundhouse with LED Pixel Pars supported by VL3500 Washes to give a searchlight effect. The red carpet was illuminated with a mix of Fresnels and 8-lite Molefays. PRG also took care of the smaller details from dressing rooms to step repeater boards using LED uplighters and Red Heads.

PRG’s Chris Walker designed, specified and supplied a Kinesys Vector system to raise and lower an 18m wide LED screen weighing 3000kg which was used to mask or reveal the upper level stage area. This required intricate rigging of spreader trusses amongst existing house lighting trusses in order to transfer the loads to the venues structural beams. The upper level stage was also supported by PRG – on a complex 30cm Supertruss ground support structure decked with Litedeck. The two parallel parts of the rigging process were managed on site by Chris and PRG’s Jay Call.

Martin Bellamy project managed the event with Marcus Robinson as lighting crew chief. The event was programmed by Pryderi Baskerville and Bill Preachment using Road Hog Fullboar and Vector Green respectively.

The overall design fitted the venue and event perfectly resulting in some stunning looks and a great show.

After five years of hard work, the Alt-J beat acts such as rapper Plan B, singer Jessie Ware and Sunderland brothers Field Music to win the £20,000 award.