diff --git a/tools/perf/util/PERF-VERSION-GEN b/tools/perf/util/PERF-VERSION-GEN
index ac418a1255e6c2b715b94fbc71239f1a73283cd1..6aa34e5afdcfc0a57cafc12d6bc631d2d8169fbb 100755
--- a/tools/perf/util/PERF-VERSION-GEN
+++ b/tools/perf/util/PERF-VERSION-GEN
@@ -14,8 +14,9 @@ LF='
 # otherwise try to get the version from the kernel Makefile
 #
 if test -d ../../.git -o -f ../../.git &&
-	VN=$(echo $(git tag -l "v[0-9].[0-9]*" | tail -1)"-g"$(git log -1 --abbrev=4 --pretty=format:"%h" HEAD) 2>/dev/null)
+	VN=$(git tag 2>/dev/null | tail -1 | grep -E "v[0-9].[0-9]*")
 then
+	VN=$(echo $VN"-g"$(git log -1 --abbrev=4 --pretty=format:"%h" HEAD))
 	VN=$(echo "$VN" | sed -e 's/-/./g');
 else
 	VN=$(MAKEFLAGS= make -sC ../.. kernelversion)