diff --git a/tools/perf/util/evsel.c b/tools/perf/util/evsel.c
index 8f1016186d57a62b80c75da9c8f7cb2cdd3d523c..960394ea1e3aa006661798bf4413d9e42d9a201b 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/evsel.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/evsel.c
@@ -634,15 +634,15 @@ int perf_evsel__alloc_fd(struct perf_evsel *evsel, int ncpus, int nthreads)
 	return evsel->fd != NULL ? 0 : -ENOMEM;
 }
 
-int perf_evsel__set_filter(struct perf_evsel *evsel, int ncpus, int nthreads,
-			   const char *filter)
+static int perf_evsel__run_ioctl(struct perf_evsel *evsel, int ncpus, int nthreads,
+			  int ioc,  void *arg)
 {
 	int cpu, thread;
 
 	for (cpu = 0; cpu < ncpus; cpu++) {
 		for (thread = 0; thread < nthreads; thread++) {
 			int fd = FD(evsel, cpu, thread),
-			    err = ioctl(fd, PERF_EVENT_IOC_SET_FILTER, filter);
+			    err = ioctl(fd, ioc, arg);
 
 			if (err)
 				return err;
@@ -652,6 +652,21 @@ int perf_evsel__set_filter(struct perf_evsel *evsel, int ncpus, int nthreads,
 	return 0;
 }
 
+int perf_evsel__set_filter(struct perf_evsel *evsel, int ncpus, int nthreads,
+			   const char *filter)
+{
+	return perf_evsel__run_ioctl(evsel, ncpus, nthreads,
+				     PERF_EVENT_IOC_SET_FILTER,
+				     (void *)filter);
+}
+
+int perf_evsel__enable(struct perf_evsel *evsel, int ncpus, int nthreads)
+{
+	return perf_evsel__run_ioctl(evsel, ncpus, nthreads,
+				     PERF_EVENT_IOC_ENABLE,
+				     0);
+}
+
 int perf_evsel__alloc_id(struct perf_evsel *evsel, int ncpus, int nthreads)
 {
 	evsel->sample_id = xyarray__new(ncpus, nthreads, sizeof(struct perf_sample_id));
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/evsel.h b/tools/perf/util/evsel.h
index 5edc625b6ecdc4ac847756e32b12f0dfb5924173..532a5f925da0563b0b6e9f36b0a51b2f0cd6e388 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/evsel.h
+++ b/tools/perf/util/evsel.h
@@ -146,6 +146,7 @@ void perf_evsel__set_sample_id(struct perf_evsel *evsel);
 
 int perf_evsel__set_filter(struct perf_evsel *evsel, int ncpus, int nthreads,
 			   const char *filter);
+int perf_evsel__enable(struct perf_evsel *evsel, int ncpus, int nthreads);
 
 int perf_evsel__open_per_cpu(struct perf_evsel *evsel,
 			     struct cpu_map *cpus);