With the offseason now upon us, the crowds will divert from St James' Park to the Town Moor for the eagerly anticipated Rock N Roll Circus. But for Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess it will be a return to a city in which he still holds a "special connection" with.
Burgess makes no secret of his links with Manchester United but spent time in his youth standing on the crumbling Gallowgate End terrace watching a young Paul Gascoigne and enjoying pints in the city "at least once a month" long before serving up no less than three number 1 albums.
Now he returns to Newcastle and will rock a huge circus tent amid the cows on the Town Moor, as live music continues to make a welcome return to our lives. Ahead of his return - where he will on the bill with Noel Gallagher - Burgess took time away from his preparations to tell Chronicle Live: "Newcastle? Special place. "I grew up in Northwich, 20 miles from Manchester, 20 miles from Liverpool. And all my friends were heading off to University.
"I was a teenager and one of my friends went to Newcastle Poly. So from 1986 onwards I was going to Newcastle at least once a month. We used to go to the pubs, and we'd watch the football at St James' Park - it was the Gascoigne era. "I saw him play in the flesh.
"I'd go to the Mayfair, seen New Order there, the Cult there, and loads of bands at the Poly. I was there all the time so I have always had a real connection with Newcastle anyway.
"When the band started playing we decided to play every tour there, it's just an amazing place. I can't say enough good things really, I am just really looking forward to it and going back."
Both music and football have been constants in Burgess' life. The singer is equally at home on Soccer AM or chatting with lead pundit Gary Neville as much as he is on stage entertaining the masses.
But he says he never forgets a true star like Paul Gascoigne, and so the conversation is steered back after a "wait, what?" moment during an interview that is predominantly meant to plug a concert.
Burgess said: "Yeah, It was a privilege to see a young Gascoigne. Watching him then you could see he was amazing, everybody was talking about him but to see him play was incredible.
"He shone more than any other player - that's no disrespect to the other players. Everybody was way behind him though. After that, the 90s was a golden era, 90s football and music went together so well. The class of 92 at Man United obviously.
"Yeah of course we had the title race between Newcastle in 1996, but everybody likes Fergie and everybody likes Kevin Keegan. Then you have all the big bands from Manchester, it's kind of a thing for me the 90s."
It was during the 90s that the pubs on the walk up to St James' Park would have music from The Charlatans, Oasis and Pulp blasting through their speakers. Keegan and Ferguson's teams were battling for the title and while Manchester United emerged victorious, supporters still talk about that golden era with a lot of love.
Burgess agrees and added: "The 90s were powerful culturally, culturally significant. It was lasting. The songs were good, the bands were good. I think it was a time of real change and I don't know if anything or any era has been like that since.
"Times have changed and lots of exciting things have happened. But there's nothing really like that era. We've got Hip Hop, and rap has changed a lot of things, new bands come along all the time but it's all different to working-class from Manchester.
"The Manchester scene for me was punk, the acid scene. But now nothing really like the 90s has happened since that comes close, but that shows how individual it was and how creative it was. It was on its own. It stood alone."
And with radio stations such as Absolute 90s serving up tunes such as How High and One To Another, the passion for the music still remains - hence why thousands will pack into a circus tent to go on a nostalgia trip in Newcastle.
Burgess added: "It's amazing, but to know the 90s radio stations we have now are playing our stuff is great. What it reminds me of in 1992, we were touring America.
"I kept hearing Led Zeppelin continuously on the radio, it kept going. Ten songs later I was like: 'What's going on here?' But it was a radio station dedicated to them. I mean wow, that's where it's at!
"So if we can now get played a few times in a hour on 90s radio station, that's great - I'm almost there."
Burgess can't wait and said: "I am looking forward to playing up in Newcastle, it's great to be going up there and amazing to be playing with Noel. Noel has written some amazing stuff and I've known him a long time. I don't really see him apart from at gigs.
"I remember him bringing the white label of Columbia to a pub in Manchester, we were all sitting outside and he was very excited. It was white label only at that time. It was just exciting times in general and certainly for music.
"It will be a really great event. There a few Manc legends on the bill so what's not to love? Lots of people during lockdown realised how important music was to them.
"Anybody who wasn't sure how much it meant to them certainly realised after a while. Missing gigs and the connection with other people, all that stuff...
"Now it's back and people can't get enough. I wrote quite a lot of solo stuff during the lockdown, the band couldn't really see each other so it was just writing like crazy really. But since we have been back together the band have started working on a new album."
Burgess expects to take a walk down memory lane when he comes back to Newcastle and while it might leave some needing a double take given he is one of the iconic faces of the music industry, he knows he will probably end up chatting music and football.
With a laugh, Tim tells me: "We always go to Australia and New Zealand, and sometimes Japan. "I look forward to those trips.
"It's good for the band members and really great for the music. I don't want to sound weird but I've always been recognised abroad and it's a good feeling.
"It's usually what happens after I've been recognised that's important. It can end up me becoming very interested in the conversation.
"I went for a coffee this morning and ended up getting recognised and we were just talking about bands on factory records and stuff like that. I found it enjoyable, it made my day, it's a wonderful thing. He bought me the coffee as well which was even better!"
Rock n Roll Circus starts on June 9 with Noel Gallagher supported by The Charlatans. The Libertines are playing on Saturday June 11.
To buy tickets for the big one on the Town Moor go to this site
