”And thereby made it available to thousands of people who would otherwise never have heard of folk music. How is taking folk music out of clique driven dingy back rooms and giving it to the masses a bad thing?” (DtG)

“my experience has been that many folk clubs are not held in dingy backrooms that are clique ridden” (The Sandman)

And my reading of what Dave wrote is that he was saying precisely the same thing as you, Sandman, not something different. No doubt Dave will clarify if I’ve misunderstood his post but, AFAICS, he clearly was saying that, since the ‘80s, there has been a move to the “Many different places that are well-lit and friendly” that you talk about, and largely because of the changing format of the music.