The Fredösphere

A pianist at a wedding reception I attended recently got me wondering.  She played all the standards, a long list, with hardly a mistake all evening.  I can hardly fault her for her choices, the occasion calling for the familiar.  She did tend to plow through them with a combination of aggressiveness and thoughtlessness that I found strange and even strangely fascinating, but then I've only heard each of those tunes ten thousand times, probably not nearly the number she has.

What I really don't understand is that she played them loud, really loud, on a small grand with the lid up, in an acoustically live room big enough only for about eight tables.  While she played, conversation became serious work (and I am a guy who is easily daunted conversationally when thrown into a group of strangers).  I found myself sinking into my shell, annoyed and distracted, until a break in the music enabled me to reconnect with the people sitting next to me.

Here's my question:  is there really anyone on earth who likes conversing in that kind of environment?  I realize some people must think people like it, since bar owners deliberately create it.  Help me out here, people.  Situations like this leave me bewildered about the motivations of my fellow human beings, and tempted to question if I really belong to the same species.