Well, just to prove that 'Catters never read threads before hastening in, the OP asked for personal experiences of the best folk club gig YOU did. Not who was the main act at a good night you may have had back in 1842.

Anyway, I'm not a famous act or anything, but I do sing and play guitar at a lot of open mic nights around home, and last week I went to one that succeeded almost in spite of itself. Upstairs in a private club on the sea front of a small beach place in New Zealand, it was a new venture by a friend of mine. When I arrived, there were a lot of total strangers, eating, drinking and playing pool. TV screens all around were tuned to a variety of Sky Sports channels. And up one corner was a dinky podium, where some poor guy was trying to compete with an amplified acoustic and some songs he had written. I almost turned around and went home.

But by the time my name came up on the blackboard, the diners and the pool players had all left, lots of other live music aficionados had turned up and the TV's had been muted. And the stage itself, though small, was adequate and the sound system was superb, with a very solid foldback speaker, so I could hear exactly what I was singing. And my guitar was in tune. And I had had just about enough beer that my voice was well lubricated, but I could remember the words.

Sometimes it all comes together. The best folk club gig ever? Probably not. But I felt pretty good afterwards, anyway!