Also around your age (46). I didn't go to clubs to meet people, I went to clubs to drink and dance. Or see a band if it had live music.
I saw They Might Be Giants in a club. I saw P-Funk in a club. I saw King Missile in a club. I saw some fucking amazing bands, both national and regional, in clubs and I think the most expensive was P-Funk at $20.
Of course it's supposed to be loud, but wearing earplugs doesn't address the main problem I have with loudness, which is that it makes it almost impossible to have a conversation. Whenever I go to a club (which is pretty rare these days), I always plan on just hanging out with the people I went there with.
I have no idea how to do that. It's fine with me if some people like to go to clubs to meet people, but it's not part of my skill set, so they have a pretty limited appeal to me.
The only times I ever met people at clubs were when I was hanging out in the outdoor smoking areas some of them have (had?). I wasn't there to smoke, just to get a break from the loud music.