Soldier Boy: [[As I mentioned before. I like singarounds which are fairly 'informal' where friends and folkies; often on the 'fringe' of a festival, will gather together for a good old sing, long into the night. ]]
Speaking of late hours and alcohol, this is a bit OT, but related. Back about 1963 I did my first solo at a "hootenanny." It was in Greenwich Village at Gerde's Folk City. I had signed up for a slot about 7:00 PM, but as the evening wore on, they kept putting the pros (e.g., Josh White's daughter Beverly), who were on break from their paid gigs, into the lineup. So by the time I actually got to go on, it was about 1 AM and I'd had 5 gin and tonics.   To be blunt about it, I sucked!   No, I wasn't nervous after all that hootch. But I slurred my words, messed up the lyrics of whatever song I was singing, and probably botched the guitar chords too.
But the audience was quite sloshed too. So they either didn't notice or didn't care about the multiple flaws in my performance.   Suffice it to say that the experience actually boosted my confidence to the point where I did another "hootenanny" ("open mic" in today's parlance) a week later without any alcohol whatsoever -- and without stage fright.

I guess the point is that whether your audience expects or cares about perfection depends a lot on the venue and various other factors. Sometimes if everyone's having a grand ol' time, that's enough.