Performance comes and goes. Expenses are forever.

Front end load is a sunk cost. So forget about that. Ongoing expenses are going to stay. If a high cost fund had high enough returns to compensate for its high expenses, count yourself lucky. You luck may not run forever, but the high expenses will. You also have to look at how the high cost fund had high returns. Perhaps it took high risk. You are better off with a low expense fund with lower risk and the same return.