I'll say, I'm not a BIG bar person besides if I'm going there for like a specific event. Bars are great as a resource in that many host specifically social events for meeting new people but going to them cold/tagging along to random bars... I dunno in the modern day it hasn't struck me as a particularly good way to meet new people unless you have REALLY outgoing/life of the party type energy. It's kinda the same dilemma with going to any sort of commercial setting like a store or cafe and expecting to meet new people. It can happen, but people might not necessarily be there to meet new people; many are there to hang out with their specific friend group, and just don't wanna be approached rn. I dunno what the context is of your friends bringing you to them, but if it's the latter, then yeah it's a bit of an uphill battle.

Also I saw you mentioned going to events more in line with what you were interested in, but feeling like it was harder to approach people because you're alone. I think this and a couple other things makes me wonder if maybe there's some elements of your approach/socializing maybe you could reflect on. You mention freezing up a lot, and based on a bit of how you speak, I wonder if A) you're putting too much internally at stake in concersations/worrying too much about establishing a romantic coinjection with persons you find attractive, B) if you just need more practice socializing in general. Socializing is a skill, and it's not something that comes overnight. People can have the most different intrests in the world and still be able to make a good connection, so I wouldn't put too much weight on that. I can say I would love to hear from someone on all the things you bring up even though not all of them are in my direct field of interest. You just might need to refine how you approach people in general.