I'm in the lower North and the first half in particular was quiet, bar the opening 5 minutes or so.
Newcastle fans made a decent racket in the first half but quietened down a lot after the penalty, at which point our fans started to increase the volume somewhat.
I understand why the atmosphere was the way it was, and I wouldn't say it was 'bad', but I was really hoping we'd get a repeat of the Everton game from our first season back up.