Liverpool needed a well-taken 67th-minute equaliser from Uruguay forward Luis Suarez to save a point after Newcastle took a first-half lead through Yohan Cabaye's stunning strike.
Earlier, Queens Park Rangers and Reading drew 1-1 at Loftus Road, leaving the two sides still looking for their first League wins of the season and both in the relegation zone.
Gerrard was presented with a statue of Liverpool's city emblem, the liver bird, by former skipper Gary McAllister before the match when manager Brendan Rodgers compared him to Superman although not even his astonishing powers could bring victory.
Hatem Ben Arfa created Newcastle's opener with a superb run down the right before crossing for Cabaye who lashed the ball into the far corner of the net after 43 minutes.
Liverpool have now gone five league matches without defeat - although they have only won one home match all season - and Rodgers told Sky Sports: "Our possession was good and it was fast, but we just could not finish it off.
"That was our fifth draw in 10 [league] games but I am sure we will soon turn that into wins because with that type of football we will always create chances."
"He said he thought it was serious foul play. The morale of referees must be really low because of constant criticism and the issues around them are unfair. We accept his decision and I thought he had a good performance."
QPR manager Mark Hughes has been consistently backed by owner Tony Fernandes but Hughes admitted afterwards, "we need to get maximum points on the board as soon as possible."
