diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-evlist.c b/tools/perf/builtin-evlist.c
index 0f93f859b782ba1701b1457cb3f90c9d1ecf5995..695ec5a50cf22c56e72961ae98ae9580a98f2512 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-evlist.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-evlist.c
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ static int __cmd_evlist(const char *file_name, struct perf_attr_details *details
 	struct perf_data_file file = {
 		.path = file_name,
 		.mode = PERF_DATA_MODE_READ,
+		.force = details->force,
 	};
 
 	session = perf_session__new(&file, 0, NULL);
@@ -47,6 +48,7 @@ int cmd_evlist(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix __maybe_unused)
 		    "Show all event attr details"),
 	OPT_BOOLEAN('g', "group", &details.event_group,
 		    "Show event group information"),
+	OPT_BOOLEAN('f', "force", &details.force, "don't complain, do it"),
 	OPT_END()
 	};
 	const char * const evlist_usage[] = {
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/evsel.h b/tools/perf/util/evsel.h
index dcf202aebe9f5b358716c0b321ffaecee56a6d6f..c5a43d6b13dc1bb1b2e2ae34ef314d358e05c7cd 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/evsel.h
+++ b/tools/perf/util/evsel.h
@@ -335,6 +335,7 @@ struct perf_attr_details {
 	bool freq;
 	bool verbose;
 	bool event_group;
+	bool force;
 };
 
 int perf_evsel__fprintf(struct perf_evsel *evsel,