diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-kvm.c b/tools/perf/builtin-kvm.c
index ff404750d7447b4d64037eb1d33bf27c9b616f61..7f2b5551386396d9963df091cd0ff1fdee17f020 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-kvm.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-kvm.c
@@ -1064,6 +1064,8 @@ static int read_events(struct perf_kvm_stat *kvm)
 		return -EINVAL;
 	}
 
+	symbol__init();
+
 	if (!perf_session__has_traces(kvm->session, "kvm record"))
 		return -EINVAL;
 
@@ -1193,8 +1195,6 @@ kvm_events_report(struct perf_kvm_stat *kvm, int argc, const char **argv)
 		NULL
 	};
 
-	symbol__init();
-
 	if (argc) {
 		argc = parse_options(argc, argv,
 				     kvm_events_report_options,