I assume your vision is corrected to 20/20 and not something better (I use contacts that correct me to 20/15 for Astronomy, i.e. over-powered).
If you are seeing "thousands of stars", then I will have to assume you are seeing something other than M45. However, M45 is the only major naked-eye cluster that would be at about 45 degress altitude at 9pm... so I guess we are back to M45...
BTW: Based on the desciption you gave, "tight", I'd eliminate the Hyades.