Observations of beam-beam effects at high intensities in the LHC

First observations with colliding beams in the LHC with bunch intensities close to nominal and above are reported. In 2010 the LHC initially operated with few bunches spaced around the circumference. Beam-beam tune shifts exceeding significantly the design value have been observed. In a later stage crossing angles were introduced around the experiments to allow the collisions of bunch trains. We report the first experience with head-on as well as long range interactions of high intensity bunches and discuss the possible performance reach